Mainland Cricket Fiesta

The fifteen members of the Mainland Sambaran Cricket Academy (MSCA) team, which won the Ambar Roy Memorial Sub-Junior(under thirteen) were felicitated on June 29 2005 along with their coaches, Debopam Sarkar and Debabrata Bhattacharya, by the Academy's title sponsor, the Mainland China chain of restaurants at its Kolkata outlet. MSCA won the tournament by defeating Durgapur Cricket Club on June 23 under lights at the Eden Gardens.

Barasat Satyabharati School student, skipper Subhajit Banerjee, who scored in excess of nine hundred runs, including a double century and three other tons in eight matches during the course of the tournament in sweltering heat, having remained unbeaten on five occasions, received a cash prize of Rs. 11,000.

Subhajit, who like his idol, Sourav Ganguly, bats left-handed and bowls right-arm medium pace, said, “I’ve been playing cricket since I was six, and nowadays, I practice for four-five hours a day."

Best bowler, Asif Pradhan an off-spinner, and a Harbhajan Singh fan, and best allrounder, Swagatam Sur, who regards Sachin Tendulkar as his role model, received a cash prize of Rs. 7,500 each, while the other twelve cricketers in the squad received Rs. 5,000 each.
Apart from the cash prize, each of the players received cricket gears and a memento.
Emphasising on the need for scientific training, professional attitude and healthy nutrients intake, former national selector and MSCA coach and founder, Sambaran Banerjee dwelt on basic education as the groundwork for lasting success. The MSCA will be taking care of Subhajit's education expenses, he announced.

"Subhajit has a tremendous concentration level and is not at all carried away by his past performance. He starts afresh in each and every match and is very mature in his approach. He is a stylish batsman and bowls medium-fast with élan, has good leadership qualities and great temperament", Sambaran Banerjee remarked.

Subhajit is expected to be sent either to Australia or to England for a few weeks' training, said the founder coach.

"This international exposure will help him prepare himself for the big time", said the Mumbai-based Anjan Chatterjee, Director, Mainland China. He also announced that talks are on to send Subhajit to Mumbai for a longer period of training.

MSCA, formed in 2003, recently utilized the services of Erapalli Prasanna as a bowling coach, and is looking to rope in either Dilip Vengsarkar, or Gundappa Vishwanath, or Mohinder Amarnath, as a batting coach on a temporary basis, said Sambaran Banerjee, expressing his goal of producing international cricketers from his Academy.