Bhubaneswar: MCC made it to the semifinals of the IInd Rameshwar Cup U-19 cricket tournament after clinching a narrow two wicket victory against Sekhar Sporting in a nail-biting quarterfinal encounter which was reduced to 20 over per side because of rain here, Thursday. MCC will meet Rameswar A in the semifinals Friday.
Opting to bat first, Sekhar Sporting managed 109/7 in 20 overs with Sumit Pattnaik (38, 44b) emerging the highest scorer. Rahul Sharma (2/23) was the pick of the MCC bowlers. In reply, Marut Nandan (32, 26b) led the chase to help MCC notch up a narrow win with 10 balls to spare. Sai Swarup Das (3/20) and Sourav Das (3/23) bowled well for the losing side.
OCA meeting
The Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) announced in their working committee meeting Thursday that the Senior Inter-District Kalahandi Cup and U-16 Inter-District cricket tournaments will be commenced at Cuttack from June 1.
OCA however, focused more on the U-16 meet. It was decided that for determination of age, necessary medical test of all the players will be done prior to their respective age group tournaments.
“Participating units will be duly intimated not to send any over age players to represent their team. Over age issues will be strictly dealt with by the association,” OCA stated in a release.
“It is mandatory for players of all the participating U-16 teams to produce Affidavits (made before Executive Magistrate declaring their age) along with their original birth certificates, academic certificates and ID Cards for necessary verification,” the release added. The cut-off date of birth for U-16 meet has been kept 01.09.2002.
It was also decided that the players, born outside Odisha, must produce valid proof of residing inside the state as local players.