Michigan Cricket Academy, Michigan's only cricket club devoted exclusively to the development of young players, is currently preparing a group of its core travel players to play in the national U-13 tournament hosted by the California Cricket Academy in Cupertino, near San Jose, from June 19 to 22.

Michigan Cricket Academy Plans Busy Summer

By Michael Makin - MCA

Michigan Cricket Academy, Michigan's only cricket club devoted exclusively to the development of young players, is currently preparing a group of its core travel players to play in the national U-13 tournament hosted by the California Cricket Academy in Cupertino, near San Jose, from June 19 to 22.

MCA will be joining players from Chicagoland and Dallas cricket academies to form a combined Mid-West team at the tournament. They will compete against three other U.S. academy teams. This is the first of a series of tournaments across the country in which MCA cricketers will participate this summer.

The following MCA players will travel to the National Tournament - Aniruddha Mayasandra (LHB, LFM, age 13; Rochester Hills), Jai Sura (RHB, RM, age 12; Novi), Gordon Makin (RHB, LS, WK, age 12; Dexter), Ryan Quinlan (RHB, RM, age 11; Novi), Rohit Mogalayapalli (RHB, RM, WK, age 11; Novi), and Neil Makin (RHB, RM, occasional WK, age 9; Dexter).

MCA's members have greeted the beginning of cricketing weather in the upper Midwest with great enthusiasm this year. Most weekend evenings at the Lyon Oaks cricket ground, Wixom, bring together some twenty-five young cricketers, ranging in age from five to seventeen, all residents of the Metropolitan Detroit area.

Coaches work on age-appropriate activities, both out on the field and in the adjoining practice nets installed last year by Oakland County Parks, helping every player develop as batsman, bowler, and fielder. MCA, led by coaches Shyam Mayasandra and Vasanth Krishnaswami, themselves distinguished local cricketers, has seen membership growth every year since its foundation in 2004. The current membership is also expressive of American cricket's great diversity: some players were born in major cricketing countries (including India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and England), but the rest were born in the United States, and by no means every MCA parent boasts a cricketing background.

Many players took up the sport through MCA, and most are also active in "mainstream" American sports. Of the players heading to California, one plays football, three play soccer, two play hockey, and most have played baseball; several boys have played at least one sport on a premier travel team.

There is especial optimism in the Academy right now, since last year's outdoor season ended on a high for MCA, with a very successful Labor Day Weekend tournament hosted by the club. MCA's junior team ensured that one piece of silverware stayed at home by winning the U-14 tournament, while the U-16s gave Chicago's Midwest Academy, led by their young star Abhijit Joshi, a good run for their money in a tense series. http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mlmakin/MCASpring/NeilMakin.jpg Neil Makin at MCA indoor practice, Novi Christian School Gym, February 2008

Even Michigan's long winter, hardly welcoming to the cricketer, could not discourage MCA's players: most Saturdays between October and early April a couple of dozen players could be found practicing under the supervision of Academy coaches either at Livonia Recreation Center or at a school gymnasium in Novi. Good Friday - a no-school day throughout Michigan - also provided the opportunity for a four-hour coaching session at one of the area's best indoor sports facilities - Total Sports, in Wixom. Fifteen young cricketers participated, and the session attracted new players to MCA.

MCA and MichCA - April 6, 2008

At the ceremony which followed the final match of Michigan Cricket Association (MichCA) indoor league on April 6th, the tournament's young MVP award went to MCA's own Anurag, age sixteen, for his fine performances as an aggressive batsman and quick bowler representing LTU. Sixteen-year-old Chamila Kannangara, another MCA quickie, also played in the tournament with some success.

Following the awards ceremony, MCA played a 13-over match against the MichCA representative side at the Pontiac Mini-Dome. The latter was bowled out for 111.

MCA players took their opponents' score of "Nelson", traditionally the unluckiest number in cricket, to be a good omen, although in the MichCA innings several catches had gone to Astroturf, reminding everyone of winter game-rustiness.

MCA replied with an opening partnership of 25, dominated by Rohit Mogalayapalli, who played some fine shots on the leg side, but then wickets tumbled and the required run rate rose quickly, despite help from that familiar high-scorer in youth cricket - "extras". Pawan Canchi's strokeplay kept MCA in the hunt for a time, but, throughout the team, rustiness showed again, this time in the running between the wickets and in shot selection, and by the thirteenth over MichCA's total was well out of touch, with MCA finishing on 98-8.

MCA regretted that their biggest hitter, Ani Mayasandra, was restricted by injury and required a runner, but conceded that the MichCA boys had hit the ball better and more effectively to win the match, their all-rounder Haris putting in a particularly strong performance. That defeat was, however, soon forgotten as a long-missed golden orb reappeared in the Michigan sky, and everyone's thoughts turned to warm summer days, and the sound of leather on willow echoing around the pretty ground at Lyon Oaks.

In addition to player development, MCA's mission also includes promoting cricket to local communities. In the last three months, Academy coaches and players have given cricket demonstrations at Hartland High School, the International Academy, Bloomfield Hills, and at the dedication of ITC Community Sports Park, Novi.

Promoting cricket in the region

MCA also participated in a cricket demonstration given to over one hundred Livonia seventh-graders by MichCA. However, perhaps the most promising community initiative undertaken by MCA recently has been to create a cricket program for the Novi Community Education Department. This program has already attracted a new cohort of young players to the game, and MCA hopes to see them follow the developmental path of current Academy players, the oldest of whom are now graduating to local club cricket and even to regional representative sides.

With the sport growing fast in the United States, MCA coaches are optimistic that more and more talented young cricketers will emerge on the shores of the Great Lakes, and that the Midwest will become a cricket "hotbed" to rival the two coasts and Toronto. MCA hopes that its teams will soon be playing regular series against other academy sides, while plans for the future include an overseas tour.

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