If there is one thing that most people will agree about in Victoria, it is that summer means fantastic warm weather and great cricket. It is that time of the year again, when aspiring young cricketers try and organise themselves into competitive teams to battle it out for weeks on end to win the coveted ETA Cricket Tournament Cup.
The ETA Cricket Tournament is the annual softball competition organised by the Eelam Tamil Association of Victoria (ETA). It is a community based competition, open to all ages essentially promoting the importance of creating a cohesive Tamil community in Victoria and giving people the opportunity to play sport competitively whilst engaging in a social community environment.
The competition has been running for many years now and current players can testify that the games are great for testing their cricketing abilities, promoting a healthy lifestyle and also creating lasting friendships.
According to this year’s tournament coordinator, Sivas Sivaskanthan, the players’ response to the tournament was very positive.
“We had 18 teams wanting to register for this season, but unfortunately due to venue capacity constraints we could only accommodate 14. Current indications from the ETA Tournament Committee are that next year we could see the competition expanding over 2 venues.”
He regretted that although advertisements for the tournament were carried extensively in the Tamil media, the message did not reach some of the teams.
“We had one team who claimed to have tried asking Tamil shops where to register and failed to get the right information. By the time they did, the deadline had passed. We hope next year they would check for information from either the Tamil fortnightly newspaper Elamurasu or the English fortnightly Tamil Guardian. Radios such as 3ZZZ and 3CR would also be a good source.”
The first round of the season began on the 4th of December 2005, amid great expectations from each team that this was going to be their year of glory. The competitiveness showed even before the first ball was bowled, with last year’s winners Colombo Hindu ‘A’ receiving close scrutiny from the other teams at the pre-season captain’s meeting held at the Vermont South Community Center.
Asked if his team was feeling the pressure this year, S. Pratheeban, Colombo Hindu A’s manager replied, “This is nothing new to us. It only wants us to win this season more than ever. Winning is the only language we know.”
The first Sunday of the games saw the teams settling into the tournament, with both batsman and bowlers trying to find their way around the soft yellow ball. The day of play exposed the ball’s ability to lift with wind, even with good strong strokes, and saw many a good batsman get caught out to the outfielders.
The second round, on the 11th of December, became more competitive with the teams settling in and the players getting used to the conditions at the Hislop ovals. There were a few great players out on the field, in particular Thiruparan Navarathnaraja who scored a century playing for Tamils Eleven, against Victorian Panthers and Sanger Mahalingam again from Tamils Eleven ripping though the Panthers batting line up with 6 wickets.
However, the game of the day went to the match between Melbourne United and Colombo Hindu A. In what was a closely fought match, Melbourne United gained the initial advantage by pinning down Colombo Hindu A to 60 runs within 22 overs, requiring the later to need 50 runs in 8 overs to win the game.
With the intense battle taking pace on the pitch, Melbourne Uniteds’ management spotted an infringement on the field where two of Colombo Hindu A’s players failed to comply with the rules of the tournament by not wearing white shirts fully visible to the public. A compliant was swiftly filed resulting in a one-point deduction to Colombo Hindu A if they were to win.
Annoyed by the penalty and fired up by the complaint, Colombo Hindu fought back vigorously slowly clawing their way to the target score.
With the game so tightly poised it seemed inevitable that there would be some close calls for the umpire. Needless to say, it came in the dying minutes of the game with Melbourne United strongly appealing for the lbw of Colombo Hindu A’s Hinas Shaffaz. The umpire, Mohamed Jameel, declined the appeal. Colombo Hindu A, in the end, went on to win the game. The spectators on the pavilion called this the best game to date in this year’s tournament.
The third round of matches, played on the 18th of December showcased excellent cricketing talent with the Westside Cricket Club scoring the highest ever innings in the tournament, a massive 402 runs against Victorian Panthers, with Pratheep Thangavadivel being the star player scoring 147 runs off 50 balls. The match was thrilling to watch as batsmen from the Westside Cricket Club were constantly hitting the ball over the boundary for sixes.
These initial weeks of the competition have displayed some of the best cricket the tournament has had to offer and all teams and spectators are now anticipating what will ensue in the following weeks of the ETA Cricket Tournament.
The results of the matches played on 4th of December 2005 were, Westsiders def Arun Box Hill, Colombo Hindu ‘A’ def Victorian Panthers, Melbourne United def Tamils Eleven, Dravidar def Dravidar ‘A’, Colombo Hindu ‘B’ def Ilamthendral, and Swinburne def Colombo Hindu ‘B’.
The results for matches played on 11th of December 2005 were, MCA def Dravidar ‘A’, Illamthendral def Colombo Hindu, Swinburne def Colombo Hindu ‘B’ by walk over, Hard Hitters def Arun Box Hill, Colombo Hindu ‘A’ def Melbourne United, and Tamils Eleven def Victorian Panthers.
The results for matches played on 18th of December 2005 were, Melbourne United def Hard Hitters, Westsiders def Victorian Panthers, Colombo Hindu ‘A’ def Arun Box Hill, MCA def Colombo Hindu , Dravidar def Colombo Hindu ‘B’ and Dravidar ‘A’ def Illamthendral.
The ETA Cricket Tournament is the annual softball competition organised by the Eelam Tamil Association of Victoria (ETA). It is a community based competition, open to all ages essentially promoting the importance of creating a cohesive Tamil community in Victoria and giving people the opportunity to play sport competitively whilst engaging in a social community environment.
The competition has been running for many years now and current players can testify that the games are great for testing their cricketing abilities, promoting a healthy lifestyle and also creating lasting friendships.
According to this year’s tournament coordinator, Sivas Sivaskanthan, the players’ response to the tournament was very positive.
“We had 18 teams wanting to register for this season, but unfortunately due to venue capacity constraints we could only accommodate 14. Current indications from the ETA Tournament Committee are that next year we could see the competition expanding over 2 venues.”
He regretted that although advertisements for the tournament were carried extensively in the Tamil media, the message did not reach some of the teams.
“We had one team who claimed to have tried asking Tamil shops where to register and failed to get the right information. By the time they did, the deadline had passed. We hope next year they would check for information from either the Tamil fortnightly newspaper Elamurasu or the English fortnightly Tamil Guardian. Radios such as 3ZZZ and 3CR would also be a good source.”
The first round of the season began on the 4th of December 2005, amid great expectations from each team that this was going to be their year of glory. The competitiveness showed even before the first ball was bowled, with last year’s winners Colombo Hindu ‘A’ receiving close scrutiny from the other teams at the pre-season captain’s meeting held at the Vermont South Community Center.
Asked if his team was feeling the pressure this year, S. Pratheeban, Colombo Hindu A’s manager replied, “This is nothing new to us. It only wants us to win this season more than ever. Winning is the only language we know.”
The first Sunday of the games saw the teams settling into the tournament, with both batsman and bowlers trying to find their way around the soft yellow ball. The day of play exposed the ball’s ability to lift with wind, even with good strong strokes, and saw many a good batsman get caught out to the outfielders.
The second round, on the 11th of December, became more competitive with the teams settling in and the players getting used to the conditions at the Hislop ovals. There were a few great players out on the field, in particular Thiruparan Navarathnaraja who scored a century playing for Tamils Eleven, against Victorian Panthers and Sanger Mahalingam again from Tamils Eleven ripping though the Panthers batting line up with 6 wickets.
However, the game of the day went to the match between Melbourne United and Colombo Hindu A. In what was a closely fought match, Melbourne United gained the initial advantage by pinning down Colombo Hindu A to 60 runs within 22 overs, requiring the later to need 50 runs in 8 overs to win the game.
With the intense battle taking pace on the pitch, Melbourne Uniteds’ management spotted an infringement on the field where two of Colombo Hindu A’s players failed to comply with the rules of the tournament by not wearing white shirts fully visible to the public. A compliant was swiftly filed resulting in a one-point deduction to Colombo Hindu A if they were to win.
Annoyed by the penalty and fired up by the complaint, Colombo Hindu fought back vigorously slowly clawing their way to the target score.
With the game so tightly poised it seemed inevitable that there would be some close calls for the umpire. Needless to say, it came in the dying minutes of the game with Melbourne United strongly appealing for the lbw of Colombo Hindu A’s Hinas Shaffaz. The umpire, Mohamed Jameel, declined the appeal. Colombo Hindu A, in the end, went on to win the game. The spectators on the pavilion called this the best game to date in this year’s tournament.
The third round of matches, played on the 18th of December showcased excellent cricketing talent with the Westside Cricket Club scoring the highest ever innings in the tournament, a massive 402 runs against Victorian Panthers, with Pratheep Thangavadivel being the star player scoring 147 runs off 50 balls. The match was thrilling to watch as batsmen from the Westside Cricket Club were constantly hitting the ball over the boundary for sixes.
These initial weeks of the competition have displayed some of the best cricket the tournament has had to offer and all teams and spectators are now anticipating what will ensue in the following weeks of the ETA Cricket Tournament.
The results of the matches played on 4th of December 2005 were, Westsiders def Arun Box Hill, Colombo Hindu ‘A’ def Victorian Panthers, Melbourne United def Tamils Eleven, Dravidar def Dravidar ‘A’, Colombo Hindu ‘B’ def Ilamthendral, and Swinburne def Colombo Hindu ‘B’.
The results for matches played on 11th of December 2005 were, MCA def Dravidar ‘A’, Illamthendral def Colombo Hindu, Swinburne def Colombo Hindu ‘B’ by walk over, Hard Hitters def Arun Box Hill, Colombo Hindu ‘A’ def Melbourne United, and Tamils Eleven def Victorian Panthers.
The results for matches played on 18th of December 2005 were, Melbourne United def Hard Hitters, Westsiders def Victorian Panthers, Colombo Hindu ‘A’ def Arun Box Hill, MCA def Colombo Hindu , Dravidar def Colombo Hindu ‘B’ and Dravidar ‘A’ def Illamthendral.
