Stony Brook’s Cricket Club took the Spring Cricket Bash 2018 Champions trophy home under the team name ‘All-Stars’ for the third year in a row at last weekend’s tournament on Sunday, April 22.
With nine minutes left in the championship game, Stony Brook alumnus Chiru Bhatia took the last three wickets of the second inning, winning the championship against Bayshore United.
“I knew we only had a matter of time before the game was ending,” Bhatia said while accepting his ‘man of the match’ trophy. “So I did my best for the team.”
Stony Brook’s e-board disqualified Tekrevy for failing to arrive at the tournament on time, resulting in the All-Stars’ trip to the finals.
The All-Stars qualified for the final round on Saturday after winning a series of games against four other teams, the L.I. Brothers, L.I. Strikers, Spartans and Tekrevy.
The teams gathered to play on Stony Brook’s North Field for three consecutive days, with the target score ending with 142 runs.
Bayshore United needed 11 runs to win the last over. During the first inning, junior batsman Muhammad Gohar made 43 runs in 15 balls, which evened the score after Bhatia made zero runs.
The L.I. Brothers lost on the first day, thus eliminating them from the tournament. On day two, the All-Stars beat the L.I. Strikers and Spartans, leaving them and Bayshore United in the final round of games on Sunday.
Last year, the All-Stars won against the L.I. Brothers with a score of 101 runs.
Humna Khan, treasurer of the cricket club, said that winning the tournament felt great, but collecting money for the Shaukat Khanum cancer foundation felt even better. The foundation, which was established by ex-cricketer Imran Khan of the Pakistan team, inspired the All-Stars to raise money for breast cancer research.
“This year we tried to do something different and make our jerseys pink for breast cancer awareness,” Khan said. “Together we collected around $400 with all the teams’ participation.”
Zuhair Sattar, president of the club, revealed that next year’s tournament will have more players on the team.
“We have a really great batsman, we have a really great bowler, really great fielders,” Sattar said. “Next year, we’ll have a lot more people playing for the team. I’m definitely looking forward to it.”
