By Lloyd Jodah

On Saturday, the 15th of August, 2009, Montgomery will play against an All-Star team at the 17th Annual Sundar Memorial Event to be held  in Queens, New York.  They will then show up as VIPs at the Bollywood Divas Nite show in nearby Flushing, featuring Tanushree Dutta, Koena Mitra, Rakhi Sawant, Preeti Jhiangiani and Mahalakshmi Iyer. The school is a Twenty20 powerhouse that had regularly put up scores of over 200 in winning the 2009 American College Cricket Championship.

The Sundar Memorial Event is a tradition in US cricket that was started seventeen years ago by Ray Sundar to honor the memory of his father , Harry Sundar, and will be a Twenty20 double-header this year. Young cricket stars consider it their honor to be invited to play at this event,  much like NFL stars want to be in the All-Madden Team.

U-19 USA All-American, Greg Sewdial (Hofstra), will captain the Sunder All-Stars in the feature game of the day, scheduled to begin at 1PM. The opening game, scheduled for a 10AM start, will be played between a New York U-17 All-Stars side and a Connecticut U-17 All-Stars team for the Legends of Port Mourant Trophy. On the sidelines, coaching will be offered to boys who are present at the event. So all the parents among the readers are urged to bring along their sons who stand a great opportunity to imbibe a useful tip or two to take their game to that next level.

Ray offered "Greats like Alvin Kallicharran and Shiv Chanderpaul as well as stars like Sew Shivnarine, Darren Ganga, Clayton Lambert, Inshan Ali and Everton Mathis have played at this event. But in recent years, I changed the focus to young American cricketers. I agree with Lloyd Jodah that we have to create cricket events that bring out spectators. You can picnic with your family and enjoy a cricket match."

A thrilled Adil Bhatti, captain of the College Champions declared "The whole Montgomery team is excited!! We play cricket because we love it, and winning the Chanderpaul Trophy at the 2009 American College Championship was a fantastic reward ... but, we're focused cricketers ... we want to take the Sundar Trophy back to Maryland [as well]. The college is starting a cricket trophy Collection".

Andy Mohammed, who is playing for the USA U-19 team in its efforts to be at the World Cup (T20 U-19) countered, "Maybe CUNY can win the College Championship next year ... right now I'm honored to [try and] help the Sundar XI keep the Trophy in NY".

The Sundar All-Stars include: Henry Wardley (McGill), who has been playing in England after recently scoring the most runs for the USA at the U-19 ICC Americas tournament in Canada. Andy Mohammed (City University of New York) who scored a century at the USA (Eastern Conference) Trials, Brian Adjudhia (University of Connecticut), a strokeplayer in the Kanhai vein with arguably the US's best cover drive, Chad Munroe (University of Connecticut), a big Chris Gayle-like hitter of the ball, Robin Das (St John's), recent MVP of the New York City Public School Athletic League (PSAL) and Shaan Mehta (Goerge Washington University), a Zaheer Khan-like fast bowler.

USA national selector, Sew Shivnarine, Regional Representative of USACA's New York Cricket Region, Kuldeap (Krish) Prasad, USACA's Secretary John Aaron and PSAL's Commissioner for Spring Cricket, Bassett Thompson, are among the dignitaries who are expected to attend the event. Said Shivnarine: "With the US [senior team] playing in the T20 World Cup Qualifer [in Dubai] in February [2010], we are looking for talent who can take us to the next level in world cricket; so matches like these, highlighting the best young players, are great. I'm eager to see what the Montgomery guys can do against the TriState's best."

The game is expected to be webcast, provided some financial details are worked out. Please check Dreamcricket.com on Saturday, the 15th of August, 2009.

Sundar Memorial Event, 2009
Schedule:
Date: 15 August, 2009

Match #1:
Start time: 10:00AM
New York U-17 All-Stars v Connecticut U-17 All-Stars

Match #2:
Start time: 1:00PM
Montgomery College v Sundar All-Stars

Venue: 150th & Rockaway Blvd, Baisley Pond, Queens, NY.

For more information on the event, please call (718) 751 6117.