The winner of the 2014 Best USA Cricket League award is the National Youth Cricket League (NYCL). The NYCL joins the New York Public Schools Athletic League, the league that won the award when it was last presented in 2012.

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For the fifth consecutive year, DreamCricket.com is recognizing USA’s standout performers at the international level with the New Inning Foundation USA Cricket Awards.  Since 2012, the awards have also included several non-player categories. 

The winner of the 2014 Best USA Cricket League award is the National Youth Cricket League (NYCL).  The NYCL joins the New York Public Schools Athletic League, the league that won the award when it was last presented in 2012. 

NYCL is an umbrella organization that promotes youth cricket in an open invitational format, inviting all academies, programs and teams to participate in structured interactions.   At the end of 2014, NYCL had 22 participating academies and programs from across the country.

In 2014, the NYCL conducted its inaugural national level tournament, ably hosted by the Dallas Cricket League.   Held in three age categories - U12, U14 and U16 – the tournament was a resounding success with 18 participating teams.  An army of DCL volunteers led by Jag (Uday) Poosarla and Kuljit Singh Nijjar made sure that the tournament was a memorable experience for all participants.

By 2015, the tournament grew to 28 teams in four age categories with roughly 400 participating players.  Hosting responsibilities for the tournament was shared by St. Louis and Raleigh.  Impressed with the tournament’s initial success, SG Cricket returned as the equipment sponsor for 2015 and the New Inning Foundation* signed on as the title sponsor. 

One of the goals of NYCL is to take the tournament to as many cities as possible to help lift the profile of the youth cricket.   The News Observer noted that the city’s interest in the sport of cricket continues to grow.   The newspaper also noted that the town had recently opened a cricket park at 5800 Cricket Pitch Way.   "The town is marketing its facility as a host site for travel tournaments and the lucrative number of out-of-town guests they bring," the paper observed.  

In St. Louis, Fox 2 TV observed that the NYCL Championship was the first cricket event of its kind and magnitude in the St. Louis region.

Over the years, the New Inning Foundation USA Cricket awards have recognized passion, excellence, dedication and perseverance of the people that are keeping cricket alive in this country.  

In recognition of NYCL’s achievements, the founders of NYCL and the host leagues of the first two tournaments – DCL, MYCA and TCL will each receive an award plaque sponsored by New Inning Foundation.

Pic Courtesy: Brian Walters/NYCL

[Editorial Note: New Inning Foundation, which has sponsored USA Cricket Awards for 4 of the last 5 years, has no role in determining award recipients for the USA Cricket Awards.  The Foundation's sponsorship and support of NYCL is a coincidence.]