By NLIT News
Both the sun and competition were fierce as 4 teams composed of mostly-Montpelier-based NLIT and ESDO associates each battled for the charity they represented in our 4th annual Cricket for a Cause tournament last Friday, August 24th. As you know, many of our NLIT associates are from India where the game of cricket is so popular it is frequently referred to as being like a religion. They have a saying that every Indian child is born with a cricket bat in their hand. In addition to raising money for a variety of local charities—and perhaps more importantly—this tournament allows employees of our supplier partners to get together with their families, eat good Indian food, and celebrate their culture.
The games began at 12:30 pm at Dog River Recreation Area where last year’s champions Montpelier Thunder, in green, faced off against the Fire Dragons, in black. Montpelier Thunder, led by captain RaghavRao Sodabathina, had certainly done the most trash talking of the 4 teams in the weeks leading up to the tournament, and was the favorite to win this match.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the park, team CrickIT Monsters, in red, battled against the Super Kings in blue. Unlike baseball, in cricket the teams do not keep switching back and forth throughout the game. One team does all their batting and then is done for the game, they switch places, and it is up to the second team to score more runs than the first team before their time is up. The Super Kings batted first, led by captain Magesh Elangovan. The Kings’ players included Chief Information Officer Tom Anfuso and in general seemed like the stronger team of the two–they scored a very high 86 runs before they were done batting.
In the other matchup, team Montpelier Thunder batted first. All together, they were able to score a respectable 78 runs.
Then everyone took a short break as the food arrived all the way from Godavari Indian restaurant in Woburn, MA, a three-hour drive. There were many delicious dishes like Chicken Tikka Masala, Mutton Biriyani, and Vegetable Biriyani.
The game continued with the Fire Dragons at bat and Montpelier Thunder bowling and fielding. The Fire Dragons had to score more than 78 points and, although their beginners scored twice as much as Thunder’s beginners, near the end of their turn at bat they seemed well short of the runs needed in order to win. There were not many batters left to go when Manohar Jinka hit some excellent shots and scored many runs, putting them back in the game. Next up, Sandeep Viswanatha made a great hit and scored the remaining runs needed to beat Thunder and win the game. His team erupted in cheers and carried Sandeep around the field.
While the Fire Dragons rested and prepared themselves for the finals, the CrickIT Monsters worked on besting the Super King’s score of 86. This game took 30 minutes longer than the game on the other side of the field, but they were very close to winning, due in part to excellent batting by Rameesh. Finally, Navya Mishra hit a high ball that was almost caught but dropped at the last minute and he was able to score 6 runs to win the game.
The finals would be the Fire Dragons versus the CrickIT Monsters. The CrickIT Monsters, led by captain Dan Dowling, created a teaser video with by far the best production quality of all the teams’ teaser videos, but would they be able to show this same quality of play during the finals on a very hot day? The CrickIT Monsters were randomly selected to bowl (pitch) first and without much time to rest after their first game. The Fire Dragons scored 78 runs, with the beginners again putting in an especially good showing.
Finally, the CrickIT Monsters were up to bat—to win they had to beat the Fire Dragon’s score of 78 runs. Although they put in a good effort, ultimately, they were not able to accomplish this, only scoring 48 runs. The Fire Dragons beginners did especially well at fielding, catching more of the high balls than expected.
The tournament was a grand success, both in building team spirit but also collecting a total of $11,715 donated to the Central Vermont Humane Society, COTS, the Vermont Foodbank, and the Red Cross. You can see more photos of the event here and watch the teaser videos for Montpelier Thunder and the Super Kings.