Vengsarkar blasts MCA for date goof up

The Mumbai Cricket Associaton (MCA) has goofed up again, it appears. Having done it earlier, the city’s parent cricket body has set similar dates for two different U-14 age group tournaments.
The Giles Shield cricket tourney for the U-14 boys will be held on January 8, 9 and 10 along with the U-14 Dilip Vengsarkar Foundation Cup, a selection trial tournament, which will also be held simultaneously.

The players are thus in a fix due to the clash of dates. And the whole scenario has left former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar fuming. “How can the MCA have two important tournaments of similar age groups at the same time?” said Vengsarkar, who was also the association’s vice-president.
The 116-Test veteran’s foundation holds this tournament for the youngsters, and the performers get a look in for the state side. “I don’t do this for my personal benefit. It is for the youngsters. I want them to get good games at the best grounds. I have been running the Oval Maidan academy for the last 17 years and so many of them have benefitted from it,” Vengsarkar said.

“How can you expect a youngster to play both the tournaments? With the Giles Shield being played on the similar dates, many youngsters will fail to make it to the selection tournament,” he added.

He blamed the MCA for the entire scenario. “I wanted the tourney to be held around Christmas, but the MCA said the team would be touring Rajasthan for practice games and I should postpone it. However, the tour got cancelled and they again asked me to advance it but I had already fixed the dates. They had alloted the same dates to the Mumbai School Sports Association (MSSA) for the Giles Shield. This shows the MCA officials in poor light and their complete lack of interest. They are not interested in the game at all,” Vengsarkar said.

The MCA officials were unavailable for comment. However, a coach of a top school, who has quite a number of players participating in the Vengsarkar tournament, revealed that it would be difficult for him to release the players.