When the dust cleared on the final day of the USACA Western Conference Tournament at Bryn Mawr Meadows in Minneapolis, Minn., Central East emerged as the tournament champions going undefeated in the tournament after a Central West forfeit.  South West became the runner-up by holding on for victory by 19 runs over North West.

In their final match against Central East, Central West won the toss and batted first posting 247 all out in 50 overs. Key contributions were made with half-centuries by Rahul Kukreti and Charan Gowda. The two players batted in stark contrast to each other. Kukreti opened and scored his 54 runs at a snail’s pace in 110 balls. Meanwhile Gowda came in at number four and scored 57 off 49 balls. He also teamed up with Jignesh Desai for a 78 run 4th wicket stand.

However, Man of the Match Akhil Pathan halted the momentum while the Central West batsmen tried to hit out for big runs by taking the wickets of both Gowda and Desai, as well as three others to claim his second five-wicket haul of the tournament.

Akhil Pathan Post Match Interview from Peter Della Penna on Vimeo.

“In the beginning I was in the rhythm so I was bowling my line and length,” said Pathan. “In the end I was trying to do the same thing and they were just playing their shots. The trick was bowling a little bit slower ball and using the pitch, bowling from behind the stumps. That helped me out.”

Central East was ready to start their reply after Abhijit Joshi and Fahad Babar walked out to the wicket. But when the Central West team refused to take to the field in protest, the umpires Hemanth Lalwani and Babu Venkatachalapathy awarded the match to Central East.  As we reported on this website, Central West were penalized with a five over deduction on Saturday for a slow over rate.  It is not clear if Sunday's protest was because of what happened on Saturday or if there were other reasons involved.

In the other match, South West posted 204 against North West thanks to a captain’s innings from Mehul Dave, who won the Man of the Match award after his 63 not out resurrected the South West innings. South West were 87 for 5 when he came to the wicket, but Dave battled hard and hit seven 4s in his knock.

Mehul Dave Post Match Interview from Peter Della Penna on Vimeo.

“I just wanted to hang on as long as I can and wait for the power play so we can get some quick runs,” said Dave. “We were able to get 70 runs in the power play which helped us to get to 200.”

The North West reply never had any momentum and they generally lacked a sense of urgency, especially since they had three overs shaved off their chase due to a slow over rate in the field. The biggest partnership of the innings was 34 runs.

Srinivas Salver played a valiant innings of 67 not out coming in at number five, but couldn’t get any support around him. North West had a glimmer of hope when he was batting with Mohammed Bilal Khan in the ninth wicket partnership as they carried the team to 179 with a run a ball needed to win. But Khan started to cramp up and needed a runner. Arjun Thyagarajan came out to run for him and two balls later there was a massive mixup between Thyagarajan and Salver that led to Khan being run out which effectively ended the match. Hamza Tiwana was out six runs later and South West let loose with an emotional celebration.

At the post tournament trophy ceremony, Akhil Pathan was given the award for the tournament’s top bowler for his twin five-fors to finish with 10 wickets on the weekend. Amit Kumar was named top batsman for his 180 runs in two knocks, including the only century in the six matches, and was also named Man of the Series.

Unofficial Scorecards - USACA Western Conference Tournament, Bryn Mawr Meadows in Minneapolis, Minn.

Central East vs. Central West

Central East won by forfeit when Central West did not come out to field in second innings.
Central West won toss and batted
Man of the Match: Akhil Pathan