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Youth cricket players from San Ramon, Pleasanton and Dublin took part in the fifth Cricket for Cubs Inter-school Tournament earlier this month as the international sport continues to grow in popularity in the Tri-Valley.
The competition drew more than 200 participants among 16 teams, including the tournament’s first-ever high school division. In all, 35 games were played the weekends of Dec. 2 and Dec. 9.
Dublin schools led the way, with Amador Cricket Club winning the elementary school division and one of three Fallon Middle School teams winning the middle school division. San Ramon’s California High School won the inaugural competition for older teens.
In elementary school, Mohr Cricket Club from Pleasanton took second place among the five-team division. Individual honors went to Arush Chitgopkar (Live Oak) as Best Bowler, Akhil Venkatesh (John Green) as Best Batsman, Aditya Chandrasekhar (Live Oak) as Best Fielder and Ayush Batghare (Amador) as MVP.
For middle school, the Fallon team led by Saketh Ayinaparthy (also Best Fielder) took first place, with Windemere Ranch finishing as runner-up in the eight-team competition. Other awards went to Sanjay Adhikesaven (Hart) as Best Bowler, Ajay Immadi (Harvest Park) as Best Batsman and Sahil Garg (Windemere Ranch) as MVP.
The new high school division featured three teams, with Cal High taking first place, Dougherty Valley finishing second and Dublin coming in third.
Individual awards went to Kaustub Kanagalekar (Cal) as Best Bowler, Shamith Pasula (Cal) as Best Batsman, Parth Gupta (Dougherty Valley) as Best Fielder and Rishab Jayaram (Dougherty Valley) as MVP.
Introduced just 18 months ago, the nonprofit Cricket for Cubs has worked to introduce cricket in 18 schools across Pleasanton, Dublin and San Ramon, including helping cricket become an established part of the physical education curriculum in three middle schools.
