This is part one of a three part series covering the MAQ T-20 international cricket tournament, a Twenty20 cricket tournament held near Miami, Florida, USA.

Part 1 – The tournament

This tournament was the first of its kind anywhere in the US – the MAQ T-20 cricket tournament organized near Miami, Florida by the Cricket Council of USA, featured a host of erstwhile one day international and test cricket stars.

The tournament started on a Friday but we were unable to go there until Saturday. The first game on Saturday was scheduled for a 11am start time and we reached the ground 10 minutes fashionably late – desi ishtyle, thanks to incorrect directions courtesy Google Maps. On arrival we parked what seemed to be a mile away from the stadium. Parking was $5 and we saw a desi arguing with the parking attendants to point him to a free parking lot. We were at the right place. The entrance fee was $20/person for the grand stands (pictured top right) and $10/person for the regular stands. Reasonable you would think. Not us. After paying record gas prices driving 3.5 hours, either way, we were too cheap (and too broke) to spend even that much. Instead, we arranged for press passes, that would enable us not only to get in 100% free – desi ishtyle but also unrestricted access to the facility, the players and the field.

Couple of games in progress

The tournament had 4 teams – West Indies, Pakistan, Canada and World XI (formerly India). The first game of the day was a matchup between Pakistan and Canada. Now, the Pakistan team headed by Javed Miandad had a host of test/ODI players. Canada on the other hand was comprised of a motley crew of mostly South Asian expatriates. Seems like a total mismatch, correct? Pakistan did what they often do against inferior sides. The final score – Canada beats Pakistan by 5 wickets. Pakistan plodded their way to 106-7 in 20 overs which was easily overhauled by Canada 109-5 in 19 overs. Pakistan by virtue of having lost the previous day to West Indies was eliminated from the finals with this loss. [Pakistan-Canada scores]

The second game seemed even more of a mismatch – a World XI comprising of relative unknowns headed by controversial former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin up against a West Indian team headed by former captain Richie Richardson heading a host of former ODI and test players. This match was curtailed by rain and the World XI who batted first ended up with a score of 100-5 in 15 overs. The West Indian inning was cut short by rain too and at 58-1 in 8.1 overs, the West Indians were declared winners. The Duckworth-Lewis law sucks anywhere in the world. [West Indies-World XI scores]

I was unable to stay for the finals on Sunday but the West Indians were the champions of this tournament beating Canada comfortably in the finals. While the tournament was dominated by the Windies, the surprise team was definitely Canada. [Champtionship game scores]

Coming soon:
Part 2 – The facilities
Part 3 – Über Desi behind the scenes

Photo slide show of the entire coverage. [Über Desi on Flickr]

Some personal photos including the ones with players are also up on my personal Flickr account.

Looks like you've just discovered us. Add our RSS feed to keep up with the new posts.