The Hyderabad Cricket Association seems to have taken the idea of taking cricket to districts a bit seriously given the way it went out of its way to host the HCA Junior Zonal two-day cricket tournament. Much to their delight, the finals features two districts teams - the Combined Districts-B and the Combined Districts-A.
India left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha formally inaugurated the match played at the DVA Ground near Hyderabad in the presence of HCA Secretary K. John Manoj and other office-bearers.
For the record, the B- team scored 252 in 69.5 overs with Suraj Naik (97) being the top-scorer. For the bowling side, Lalit Reddy (six for 51) was the lead wicket-taker.
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In reply the A-team missed the bus by the narrowest of the margins - losing the final by just one run despite a fine century by Sukanth (148, 247 balls, 19 x 4). For the winners, Suraj Naik and Kapil Rathod picked three wickets.
HCA vice-president Narender Goud along with joint-secretary R. Vijayanand have apparently put in some efforts to get the event going.
“We are keen to take all possible corrective measures. This being our first season (the current office-bearers were voted to power late last year) there could have been some flaws. But for sure, we are going to take the game to a different level,” insists Narender Goud, who also went around the Telangana districts to ensure that decent play facilities to conduct matches are in place.
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“The response is good and we hope that fresh and genuine talent will emerge from the districts.
We want to make one thing clear — that HCA will not be found wanting in terms of tapping talent in districts and will go all out give it a platform to showcase its skills,” he explains.
With the season effectively coming to an end, the HCA is busy reviving its now-defunct Cricket Academy of Excellence at Gymkhana Ground. Curator Mukesh Goud and his dedicated ground staff have put in place a truly lush green venue, besides the 15-plus turf training wickets, which actually took shape during former Hyderabad off-spinner Kanwaljit Singh's tenure as Director of the Academy.
“We hope the next season will be completely different in many ways - both administratively and performance on the field by the Hyderabad teams.
A lot of planning is going on and we are keen to execute that, to get the desired results,” says John Manoj.