Salem: The district has won first place in the state-level tennis ball cricket tournament that concluded in Erode on Friday. Secretary of the Salem District Tennis Ball Cricket Association (SDTBCA) S Arun Kumar said this was the first win for the district in the past 20 years.
The Tamil Nadu Tennis Ball Cricket Association has been holding tournaments every year since its inception 20 years ago. While the Salem team hadn’t missed any tournaments in the past 20 years, we could emerge victorious only this year,” said Kumar, who is also the coach of the district team.
The week-long tournament was held at Thamaraipalayam village near Kodumudi in Erode this year, featuring more than 20 teams from across the state. The final match was held on Friday when the Salem district team faced the Vellore district team, a five-time champions. “However, our boys played well and won the match,” Kumar said.
According to him, it was a five-over match and the Vellore team had scored only 18 runs. “We also scored only 18 runs and the game was extended to the super over and we scored six runs against their five. Vellore team gave us a tough fight.”
The team is now qualified for the south-India zonal tournament at Ongole in Andhra Pradesh and the national tournaments at Haridwar in Uttarakhand that would be held between December 16 and 20.