Creating Moments – Rainbow Championship, 2nd Edition – Sep 2016
Creating Moments is a Social initiative championed by Blackcaps where Cricket is played for a cause. The Rainbow Championship is an annual soft ball tournament organized by Blackcaps over a weekend for teams from NRW to play for a cause. The tournament is conducted in a family atmosphere and receives wide audience including local population. The proceeds from the tournament goes to Kinderhospiz from the region who support Kids suffering from rare medical conditions. Read our report on the 2016 edition of the championship.
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The weather was damp, but our spirits weren’t is an apt way to summarize the 2nd edition of the Rainbow Championship that had recently concluded at Nordpark on the 4th of September 2016.
Eight teams participated this year and the tournament was played over 2 days with Sunday witnessing a complete package of Cricket & Entertainment in a friendly family atmosphere. The tournament began on Saturday and the cricket was quite intense with tough competition between the teams. At the end of the first day, all teams except one had at least 1 win under their belt. This made Sunday more interesting, as every team had a chance to progress to the knockouts.
In Group ‘A’, the highlight was the game between defending champions Düsseldorf CC and Rheinwaal. With both teams equal on points, the last league game between the two turned out to be a knock-out with the winner qualifying for semi-finals. The game ebbed and flowed both ways and with Rheinwaal needing 10 of the last over, the game ended in a tie resulting in a nail biting finish! The tie meant both teams ended up equal on points with Düsseldorf CC going through on run rate. City Lions ‘A’ was the other team to make the semis and they had a comfortable route with 2 wins out of 3 topping the table.
Group ‘B’ was tightly contested as well with 3 teams ending up on same number of points after the group stage. Cologne Crusaders, the runners-up from last year and City Lions ‘B’ qualified for the semi-finals on superior net run rate. Survivors were the unlucky team to miss out despite winning 2 out of their 3 games.
As the day progressed, the crowds built up nicely despite the rainy weather. They were not disappointed as the cricket was quite intense and most of the games went to the wire. The commentary team of Blackcaps along with guest commentators Adeel & Sahaf from city lions spiced it up by involving the audience & players alike with an interactive style of commentary adding a lot of fun element to the event! Then, there was also the live music performance from Aaron and his Band to go with the delicious Biriyani for lunch and homemade cakes for dessert.
The post lunch session saw the chief guests Mrs. Sabine Anemüller, the mayor of Viersen and Mrs. Katja Schweeberg from Kinderhospiz Regenbogenland addressing the gathering and adding their support to the event. Düsseldorf Blackcaps would like to express their sincere thanks to both of them for their support.
Before the semi-finals, a special game between TU Borgholzhausen, a young team comprising of boys from Pakistan and Afghanistan lined up against the NRW champions and tournament organizers Blackcaps. These youngsters had traveled 3 hours one way to play this single game and they made it count and put up a spirited display to defeat the host team in style.
The first semi-finals took place between City Lions ‘A’ and City Lions ‘B’ and City Lions ‘A” took the honors in a closely fought battle. In the second semi-finals, Cologne Crusaders took on Düsseldorf CC. Düsseldorf CC won the game quite comfortably.
As we reached the climax hoping for the weather to stay put, the two finalists City Lions ‘A’ and Düsseldorf CC took center stage with a renewed focus. City Lions ‘A’ won the toss and chose to bowl first despite the threat of bad light and their decision almost backfired with Düsseldorf CC opting for the double over straight away(Runs scored in this over get doubled) and scoring 28 runs of the first over. If Düsseldorf CC had thought they had the game in the bag they were found wanting as City Lions roared back Lion style into the contest and restricted Düsseldorf CC to a respectable total - 55 of 5 overs. The chase started on a slow note for the Lions with just 13 runs coming of the first 2 overs, but once again Lions roared back into the game with 33 runs from the next 2 overs. With 10 needed of the last over, the game went down to the wire and with 3 needed of the last ball, City Lions managed a couple to tie and take it down to a super over. It was Dejavu for Düsseldorf CC as they found themselves in the same position against Rheinwaal just a few games back, but this time they had to contend with the super over to defend their title. The super over was less eventful, with City Lions ‘A’ clinching the target with 2 balls to spare, becoming the “Rainbow Champions 2016”! As organizers we could have not hoped for a better finish.
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all our sponsors – Stadtwerke Düsseldorf, Kirti’s restaurant, Transfood Großhandel, Cool forest Germany, Transflex, Annam Brand, Ramada and esdeereisen for their support in making this happen. A Huge thanks to each and every member of the Blackcaps family (Players and their families) who worked tirelessly round the clock to have the event organized in such a great manner. Finally, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to each and every participant who attended our event to make it a grand success! Click here to view some images from the tournament.
Awards summary:
Winners – City Lions ‘A’
Runners – Düsseldorf CC
Best Bowler – Sathish from City Lions ‚A‘
Best Batsman – Prabhu from Düsseldorf CC
Man of the tournament – Sahaf from City Lions ,A’
Tournament Highlights:
Highest Individual score – Shahid from Survivors scoring 55 of just 13 balls.
Best Bowling performance – Arun from Cologne Crusaders 3/2 of 2 overs.
Best team batting performance – Survivors 127/3 in 6 overs
Best team bowling performance – City Lions ‘B’ bowling out survivors for 22 runs.