Hoya Cricket Team Take Part in QF Tournament

The Georgetown SFS-Q cricket team participated in the Qatar Foundation Cricket League in spring 2015. This annual tournament brings together most of the partner universities of Qatar Foundation, with each team boasting a strong and experienced squad. As always, the preparation for the season had begun in fall of 2014, with weekly practice sessions despite the team’s busy academic and extracurricular schedule. 

The first game of the tournament was against the arch-rivals Texas A&M Qatar, one of the most experienced squads in the tournament. Despite their experience and reliance on senior members, our team was able to emerge as victors in a toughly contested match, even with one less player. The victory buoyed the spirits of the young team and raised the expectations for the games to come.

All was not to go as planned, however, as the team suffered back to back losses against strong opponents CNA-Q and Qatar University, often coming close to victory but simply lacking the substance to follow through. The dynamics made the final group stage game against Weill Cornell, a do-or-die encounter. With their backs against the wall, our team managed to rally together and put on a solid performance, scoring a big win and pushing SFS-Q into the semi-finals.

Having qualified against all odds, the team faced CNA-Q in the semis. Once again, it was not to be and they lost the match, not able to match the superior skill set of the club-cricket playing CNA-Q side. It all came down to one last match against Qatar University for the 3rd place. Although, this was not an ideal place to be, the squad found the passion and the desire to go out all guns blazing. After all, it was the final game for our graduating captain and vice-captain, Atul Menon and Salar Khan. After a hotly contested match that ended in a tie, it came down to a Super Over to decide the victor. It was a true test of the grit, resilience and temperament of the side. A fine over by Taimur Ali set the base for an easy finish by the experienced Asad Malik. The taste of victory felt glorious and the pleasure of finishing 3rd was overshadowed by the contentment of sending off our leaders with a victory. The team also won the Best Sportsmanship Award, an honor that become associated with our team in recent years. Salar Khan was adjudged Best Fielder of the tournament owing to his commitment on the cricketing field.