Mayor Choi, playing in the first ever Twenty-20 Community Cricket match here, bowled the first over as part of the inaugural ceremony of the cricket ground at the Thomas Jefferson Middle School on Division Road.

Edison inaugurates its cricket ground with first T20 Community Cricket event - The Western Union Cup

Edison, NJ

On a warm, sunny June 7 morning, Edison Mayor Jun Choi released hundreds of red, white and blue balloons to mark the dedication of a cricket pitch in this heavily populated Indian American town. Mayor Choi, playing in the first ever Twenty-20 Community Cricket match here, bowled the first over as part of the inaugural ceremony of the cricket ground at the Thomas Jefferson Middle School on Division Road.

Facing him with the willow was former Ratepayer Advocate of New Jersey Seema Singh who quickly scored a couple of runs against the bowling of the Mayor. Also, fielding in the ground were other prominent personalities like Edison councilman Dr. Sudenshu Prasad, former publisher and CEO of 'NJ Desi' and Home News Tribune Ketan Gandhi, EBC Radio president Arvind Agarwal and Sunil Hali- President, CEO and Publisher of Indian Express. In the audience watching the Mayor bowl were top township officials from the Recreation Department, Public Works and the School Board of Education.

Mayor Choi promises to do more for cricket

Commending the players on the field for braving near-95 degree temperatures and showing their true commitment to this game, Mayor Choi thanked Atul Huckoo and Edison Cricket Club for bringing "great energy, enthusiasm and vitality" not only for the benefit of Cricket but also to the entire Edison community.

Noting that the South Asian Community has emerged as the single largest ethnic community in Edison, the Mayor committed to continue his support for the promotion of Cricket thus: "We are not done with inaugurating a Cricket pitch on a school ground. We will soon have a larger, grander dedicated Cricket ground that will attract the entire world to Edison."

Earlier, Atul Huckoo, president of the Edison Cricket Club which had spearheaded the efforts to establish the town's first cricket grounds, kicked off the formal inaugural ceremony - The Western Union Cup - by profusely thanking the township officials, community leaders, dedicated ECC members and the ethnic press for their unstinting support in establishing the grounds here. He also thanked the sponsors Western Union, Indus American Bank, Diamond Essence, Glaceau, Indigo Restaurant, Hot breads and DreamCricket.com for their support for this event. Edison Cricket Club official sponsor Emirates Airline, State Bank of India and Effexoft got a special mention from him.

Seema Singh and Mayor Choi captained two Edison teams named after the event's sponsors - Diamond Essence and Indus American Bank - respectively. Having won the toss, Seema Singh's team Diamond Essence elected to bat and later won a hard-contested match. Raja Shah, Vice President of Diamond Essence Jewelers, said this on why he decided to sponsor this event: "One of the many dreams we leave behind in India while coming to America is to play cricket. We couldn't resist the temptation to be part of an earnest effort to promote Cricket on and off the field." Dave Majumdar of Western Union and Hemant Mirchandani of Indus American Bank expressed delight with Edison's first cricket pitch. Majumdar hoped that the growing interest in cricket will eventually result in an all American Cricket League. He said The Western Union Cup was the first time his company was getting involved in cricket in the US and they would spearhead many more cricket games as it grows in popularity in the US.

Seema Singh who was the only woman player on the ground expressed hope that the ECC would soon start a women's cricket team and said: "Cricket is not only a sport but also a symbol of unity and how we have arrived in America."

Dr. Prasad, congratulating the ECC for promoting sportsmanship and camaraderie through Cricket, said the South Asian enthusiasm for this game would "bring electricity to Edison."

Pragnesh Patel and Mayur Khandelwal from the Cricket League of New Jersey umpired the game. Every run scored was welcome by the sound of the dhol and bhangra dancers which was provided by T.I.M.E entertainment along with cheers from the spectator on the ground. Cricket commentators Venu Palaparthi and Arvind Ramachandran from DreamCricket.com kept the crowd informed about the proceedings of the game on the ground and also provided updates to the listeners of EBC radio.

The Inaugural Match

Diamond Essence team scored 120 runs and lost 9 wickets in their 20 over's while scoring a emphatic victory over Indus American Bank team 97 runs all out. Atul Huckoo later gave away the Western Union Cricket Cup to the Diamond Essence team which was received by Seema Singh and Sunil Hali the players representing the Diamond Essence XI team. On receiving the trophy Sunil Hali thanked Edison Cricket Club in giving him the opportunity to play cricket in the US and the entire environment in which the game was played gave him a very nostalgic experience of being back home in India.

Later, Diamond Essence jewelry gifts were presented to the 'Man of the Match' Manoj Bagwe, The Best Batsman award to Rakesh Shah, The Bowler award to Rizwan Bajwa, and the best fielder award to Chirag Patel.

Among the other sponsors were Indigo Restaurant who provided refreshments and Vitamin Water who quenched the thirsts on the hot day. Print Today, Signs by Tomorrow, Emirates Airlines and Effexoft were among the other major sponsors of the event.

ECC Press Release