The first day of the tournament was dominated by aggressive and non-stop peformance of the Rain God and it's team mates. Going by the present condition of both venues, the HEAVEN XI gate-crashed and dominated the whole day by not letting any cricketer from Altair, BCBS, Chrysler, Ford, GM or TCS play even for a moment. All participants were mesmerized by the spectacular volley of rain drops and therefore didn't even feel like stepping into the grounds.
Frequent conference calls among the six team captains and MichCA GB, tested the patience of all players. Weather.com and other weather related website were inundated with weather-update requests from the south-east side of the wolverine state. Guys with smart phones were found brandishing their toys and frequently tapping their phone screens to get accurate hourly weather report every 'minute'. Some captains volunteered for bagel-shopping in the nearest Panera Bread outlet. While most players after hours of futile waiting had forgotten about their game plans and had started to talk about the interesting moments of previous Big3 CCC tournaments.
A momemtory slowdown in the rain gave a little hope to the event coordinators. The event manager of Lyon Oaks Park lived upto his problem-solving reputation by quickly drying up the pitch and it's surrounding areas with help of some enthusiastic volunteers. While the event manager of Bloomer maintained his cool by stating at the resilient drizzle and then inspecting the wet patches on the ground.
After juggling with all permutations & combinations and brainstorming with all team captains, the Governing Body of MichCA decided to finally give in to the forces of nature. All players were relieved of their duty to maintain their hold on the park shed they had conquered before the Heaven-11 arrived. A few players just took off right away in a hope to catch some MLB action in Detroit Tigers vs Minnesota Twins game. Tigers however failed to please these cricket-loving Michiganders as they were handed over a 0-11 loss by the Twins. Lets Blame this on the rain too.
The new plans for conducting USCCC assures action-packed games on Sunday if it literally remain a "Sun" day. Six T20 games (shrunk to t12 format) will keep all players busy till 3pm. I guess it will be a hay-day for all Hitters and Sloggers. On the other hand Swingers and Spinners will get their share of chances to make all aggresive batsmen dance around the 5 piece wooden furniture guarded by a keeper.
As per the new schedule, both Semi Final games have been eliminated. The finals will be played between the top teams in both groups based on their first round performance. Other teams will get a chance to enjoy watching the finals, spend quality time with their family around the cricket ground and chit-chatting with their company executives.
We hope this time the final game will be very tough and yet an exciting one.
Have a great time on Day-2 !
About Me
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Friday, August 7, 2009
Big 3 automakers join hands to settle the score in 2009 US Corporate Cricket Championship
US automakers are finally treading on a long tortuous path to sustained profitability. Every month Big 3 and other automakers compete in a hope to end up disclosing the best monthly sales report. Every quarter people eagerly look forward to their financial statements to compare the economic outlook of these corporations. Every year these corporations work hard to grab the top Quality awards and then towards the year-end they scramble to beat the expectation of gains in their market share. However, there is one more arena where the Big-3 OEMs compete- in a sports park in Michigan playing cricket in US Corporate Cricket Championship (USCCC).
The game of cricket originated in Britain in 16th century but it took about two centuries for this sport to sail cross the North Atlantic Ocean and arrive in this land of opportunities. After a long period of negative growth in the USA during the last century, it's gaining significant momentum again for the past 8-10 years. USCCC was previously known as Big 3 Cricket Challenge Cup and it started in 2003 with teams from three companies- DaimlerChrysler, Ford and GM. MichCA (Michigan Cricket Association) organizes this T20 format championship every year and it gradually has become one of the biggest sports events in the Central East Region since its humble beginning. Exponential growth of cricket in US and rapid proliferation of cricketers under MichCA helped in increasing the popularity of this championship. Last year, six teams (Caterpillar and Sprint made their debut) participated in USCCC. This year we were expecting eight teams to play but finally we finalized six teams representing Altair Engineering, Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS), Chrysler Group, Ford, GM and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to play nine games in just two days to own the bragging rights for next one year of being the champions of this prestigious tournament.
Ford team was the champions in first three annual tournaments while the Chrysler team is on a song after adorning the throne thrice since 2006. After two hat-tricks of championship wins- one each by Ford and Chrysler, it's time for GM team to flex their muscles and show their mettle in wearing the crown yearned by all teams. For the first time since the inception of this tournament, with a prime objective of increasing competition & raising level of cricket, MichCA is allowing the participating teams to field 3 ‘guest’ players- certain restrictions apply. Teams from Chrysler Group, Ford and GM are revving up to rekindle their long rivalry. Altair team, like a crouching tiger, is just waiting for the right opportunity to show their true powers while the hidden dragons- BCBS and TCS teams, have already gathered enough firepower to score a few surprise wins. As the participating teams rush to grab the best talent in and around the wolverine state, MichCA is gearing up to serve cricket lovers their annual quota of pure adrenaline in just two days. We expect these games to be nail-biting and overall competition to be more action-packed than any other championships we have organized so far. Anyway, keeping in view the prevailing growth of cricket in the US, that day is not very far away when
professional cricket in USA will boom under USACA and will become as popular as MLB, NFL or NBA. For now, MichCA is fulfilling the annual Vitamin-T20 needs of all Michiganders through USCCC.
MichCA invites all cricket lovers to come with their family & friends and enjoy this exciting cricket tournament which slowly has also become popular community event promoting diversity in Michigan. You are welcome to join the party- drinks (soft) and snacks are on the house.
Happy Cricketing !
The game of cricket originated in Britain in 16th century but it took about two centuries for this sport to sail cross the North Atlantic Ocean and arrive in this land of opportunities. After a long period of negative growth in the USA during the last century, it's gaining significant momentum again for the past 8-10 years. USCCC was previously known as Big 3 Cricket Challenge Cup and it started in 2003 with teams from three companies- DaimlerChrysler, Ford and GM. MichCA (Michigan Cricket Association) organizes this T20 format championship every year and it gradually has become one of the biggest sports events in the Central East Region since its humble beginning. Exponential growth of cricket in US and rapid proliferation of cricketers under MichCA helped in increasing the popularity of this championship. Last year, six teams (Caterpillar and Sprint made their debut) participated in USCCC. This year we were expecting eight teams to play but finally we finalized six teams representing Altair Engineering, Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS), Chrysler Group, Ford, GM and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to play nine games in just two days to own the bragging rights for next one year of being the champions of this prestigious tournament.
Ford team was the champions in first three annual tournaments while the Chrysler team is on a song after adorning the throne thrice since 2006. After two hat-tricks of championship wins- one each by Ford and Chrysler, it's time for GM team to flex their muscles and show their mettle in wearing the crown yearned by all teams. For the first time since the inception of this tournament, with a prime objective of increasing competition & raising level of cricket, MichCA is allowing the participating teams to field 3 ‘guest’ players- certain restrictions apply. Teams from Chrysler Group, Ford and GM are revving up to rekindle their long rivalry. Altair team, like a crouching tiger, is just waiting for the right opportunity to show their true powers while the hidden dragons- BCBS and TCS teams, have already gathered enough firepower to score a few surprise wins. As the participating teams rush to grab the best talent in and around the wolverine state, MichCA is gearing up to serve cricket lovers their annual quota of pure adrenaline in just two days. We expect these games to be nail-biting and overall competition to be more action-packed than any other championships we have organized so far. Anyway, keeping in view the prevailing growth of cricket in the US, that day is not very far away when
professional cricket in USA will boom under USACA and will become as popular as MLB, NFL or NBA. For now, MichCA is fulfilling the annual Vitamin-T20 needs of all Michiganders through USCCC.
MichCA invites all cricket lovers to come with their family & friends and enjoy this exciting cricket tournament which slowly has also become popular community event promoting diversity in Michigan. You are welcome to join the party- drinks (soft) and snacks are on the house.
Happy Cricketing !
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