Kanga League called off

Though the continuous downpour over last three months gave the city respite from heat, it has left the cricket lovers here disappointed. With nine wash-outs and only one day of cricket played out of supposed 13 rounds, the Mumbai Cricket Association officials have called off the 62nd edition of the Dr HD Kanga League Cricket Tournament.

This means the last three games of the monsoon league, which were supposed to be held over the coming three Sundays won’t be played. There won’t be any promotions or relegations of the clubs this year and they will stay where they are.

“We lost out on the matches due to heavy rains in July, August and early September. This kind of situation has never come up. It would have been unfair to the clubs if the promotions or relegations were decided based on only few games,” Kanga League secretary Vinod Deshpande said.

“We asked the clubs if they were ready to go ahead with the plan to call off the tournament this year and all of them agreed,” he added.

The MCA could have gone ahead with the relegation and promotion process as two matches had already been counted; including the one being played and assuming that three remaining matches would also have been counted. The rule says that five matches off the 13 can decide the results of the season.

The rules say that if the teams are called to the ground, that round is counted even if not a single ball is bowled. However, the MCA decided to amend the rule this year and call off the tournament. “It is quite a sporting decision by MCA. A few matches could have decided the result, which would be unfair to all the clubs,” said Pervez Cooper, representative of A Division club Victory Cricket Club.

It is also learnt that from next year, the MCA will amend the rule and five completed matches would be counted in the promotions and relegations.

The cancellation has also resulted in MCA mulling on advancing Police Shield, an invitational tournament for ‘A’ division clubs, so that they could pick the performers and also give some practice to Mumbai players for the forthcoming Ranji Trophy. As far as the lower divisions are concerned, some junior tournaments like Kurla-Bapat and South Bombay Cricket Tournament may also be advanced.