The 45 Exhibition games organized so far in the regional conferences between the team’s in USA Cricket’s Minor League Cricket (MiLC) have shown not only the talent that will be on display during the inaugural edition of the tournament in 2021, but also the fact that the team’s will go through lot of closely fought contest’s when they play others from other conferences. To avoid travelling during COVID-19 pandemic, the team’s within the same regional conference are organizing the exhibition matches in September and October, as directed by USA Cricket and as per the guidelines of local authorities.
18 team’s out of the 24 in the Minor League Cricket competition have played the exhibition games so far, with 6 teams (3 each from Southern California and Florida region) not getting game time due to pandemic restrictions for sporting activities.
Eastern Conference
New Jersey Somerset Cavaliers CC have dominated the Eastern conference region, winning five games from their six completed matches so far against the likes of DC Hawks, NJ Stallions, Empire State Titans, The Philadelphians and New England Eagles. Aaron Jones has piled up 286 runs from his six innings, including a half-century and a century. Syed Abdullah and Chanderpaul Hemraj are the other notable contributors with the bat, with Hemraj smashing six 6’s in an over against the Philadelphians in their last game played on 04th October 2020.
USA national Jasdeep Singh is the leading wicket-taker for Somerset Cavaliers with 8 wickets from the six games, including a 5-fer to his name. Singh has got good support from the likes of Juanoy Drysdale and Asad Ghous, both picking up 5 wickets each in as many games for the team.
DC Hawks have had a successful outing in the exhibition games as well, winning both their games played so far. Adil Bhatti is leading the batting departments with half-centuries in both the matches, and a half-century each to Navin Stewart and Gourav Bajaj. All three of them also showed their all-round skills picking up wickets in both the matches, with Stewart bagging a 4-fer in one of the games. NJ Stallions and Empire State Titans have registered two wins during the exhibition games, while The Philadelphians and New England Eagles have not got returns in their games against the others in the Eastern conference.
There have been notable individual performances from the other team’s in the Eastern conference region, namely Dominique Rikhi (NJ Stallions) with 211 runs (4 innings), Jaladh Dua (Empire State Titans) with 187 runs (4 innings), Trevon Griffith (Empire State Titans) with 185 runs (6 innings) and Assad Fudadin (New England Eagles) with 189 runs (4 innings) among the batsmen, and Bruce Blackwood (New England Eagles) with 10 wickets (5 innings), Manoj Acharya (The Philadelphians) with 6 wickets (3 innings), Damion Jacobs (Empire State Titans) with 8 wickets (5 innings) and Gavon Brown (NJ Stallions) with 8 wickets (4 innings) among the bowlers.
Western Conference (Bay Area Region)
East Bay Blazers and Silicon Valley Strikers have put up a strong show in the region, with Golden State Grizzlies unable to pose much challenge and remain with only one solitary win from their eight completed matches. The two matches between Blazers and Strikers have been closely fought contest’s with the matches going into the final overs of the 2nd innings in both of them.
Shiva Vashishat (154 runs in 6 innings) and Sanjau Krishnamurthi (140 runs in 6 innings) are leading the batting charts for East Bay Blazers, while Narsingh Deonarine (155 runs in 5 innings) and Shadley van Shalkwyk (139 runs in 6 innings) are the leading scorers for Silicon Valley Strikers. Pranay Suri (8 wickets), Sheryar Khan (6 wickets) and Shadley van Shalkwyk (6 wickets) lead the way for the Strikers in the bowling department, with Nick Mclachlan and Rusty Theron scalping 10 wickets to their names for the Blazers in the games played so far.
The Grizzlies haven’t got the desired results in their side, but the team has had few notable contributions in the games played, with Junaid M and Mario Rampersaud making 162 runs each in 8 innings for the team, while USA national squad captain Saurabh Netravalkar picking up 9 wickets to his name and has got good support from Neeraj Goel, who has bagged 8 wickets to his name.
Central Conference (Midwest Region)
The two team’s from Chicago (Blasters and Catchers) have played two games each against Michigan Cricket Stars in the regional exhibition games that have taken place so far, with Chicago Blasters winning both their games against Michigan, while both Catchers and Cricket Stars won a game each against each other.
Shaker Ahmed has put up impressive performances for Michigan, with 144 runs from the 4 innings, and also picking up couple of wickets in the games.
Central Conference (Texas Region)
Irving Mustangs have dominated proceedings against Austin Athletics and Houston Hurricanes in the exhibition games played in the region, having won their five matches out of the completed eight, with both Athletics and Hurricanes notching up two wins to their names from their six games, with one game between the two washed out due to weather conditions and ending as a no-result.
Irving Mustangs have had the major contributors in Muhammad Waqas (203 runs in 8 innings), Canada’s national squad member Rayyan Pathan (199 runs in 8 innings) and Sushant Modani (173 runs in 8 innings) in the batting department, with USA national squad member Nosthush Kenjige leading the wicket-taking charts with 14 scalps from 8 innings and supported well by Junaid Khan (13 wickets from 8 innings).
Houston Hurricanes player Rameez Raja is one of the highest run-scorer’s in overall stats for the exhibition games, with 240 runs from 6 innings to his name, that includes a half-century and a century. Shayan Jahangir has shown his all-round abilities with 100+ runs and 6 wickets to his name for the Hurricanes. Ali Samad, Ahmed Butt, Dylan Joseph and Willem Ludick are the mainstays for the Austin Athletics team and will definitely be the ones to look out for in the main competition next year.
Southern Conference (Georgia Region)
The Georgia region matches have been the most evenly matched with two teams from Atlanta (Param Veers and Fire) and Morrisville Cardinals putting up closely contested matches, with Cardinals and Param Veers registering three wins and Fire with two wins in the games played so far.
Darpan Patel has been in scintillating form for the Param Veers with two centuries to his name and has amassed 347 runs from his 6 innings for the team, and is also the leading wicket-taker for the team with 7 wickets. Garth Garvey has provided good support with the bat with 199 runs from as many innings as Darpan. USA national squad member Steven Taylor has had a relatively moderate outing so far, but he will be one of the prime stars for the Param Veers in the main tournament in 2021.
USA players Jaskaran Malhotra (204 runs in 5 innings) and Roy Silva (104 runs and 6 wickets), along with Rohan Phadke (9 wickets in 5 innings) and Abhiram Bolisetty will be the main players for the Cardinals in the main tournament and have performed well in these exhibition games. For Atlanta Fire, Rishi Bhardwaj has stood up as the main run-scorer in the exhibition games, with 287 runs in 5 innings, with Sahil Charaniya showing his all-round capabilities with 100+ runs and 7 wickets to his name for the team.
