TORONTO - Fort Lauderdale, Florida has become a familiar scene over the past few years for a number of Ryerson Cricket team members. Although there's always new faces and newer talents coming into the team, the goal remains the same each year: win the American College Cricket (ACC) National Championship.
The American College Cricket national championship is a tournament hosted by American College Cricket every March in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The tournament brings the best universities and colleges from the USA and Canada. The teams battle it out at Broward County Stadium over a week to achieve bragging rights as winners of American College Cricket Nationals.
Since the title run in 2017, Ryerson has been successful in making it to the semifinals of the event in 2018 and 2019. However, the hunger for another championship is fresh among the team with American College Cricket Midwest Regionals Trophy also on the line at Florida this March. The opportunity to bring home two trophies makes the occasion much more important.
This past September, the Ryerson Cricket team drove to Detroit for the weekend to compete in American College Cricket Midwest Regionals. Despite losing a close first game against University of Buffalo, Ryerson fought back to win against West Virginia University and Wilfrid Laurier University in the final group game and semifinal respectively. With the final getting washed out for heavy rain, it was decided at the time that the final for the ACC Midwest Regionals would be played in Florida before the National Championship commences.
Furthermore, the team has been holding indoor practices since November 2019 in preparation for this tournament.
Captained by Viplav Naik, the team consists of seventeen other members (in last name alphabetical order): Ahmed Ali, Humza Atiq, Zain Choudhry, Kartik Desai, Faizan Fazal, Zulqarnain Imtiaz, Hussain Jawa, Ibrahim Khan, Muhammad Khanani, Fardin Kibria, Zachary Nowell, Jamison Schulz-Franco, Meet Shah, Hamza Talal, Obaid Ullah and Shahrose Waraich.
For many players, this is their first trip to Fort Lauderdale representing Ryerson, but they have all been heavily involved in league cricket in Canada through the years. A win in this year's competition will aid in creating a legacy for the sport at Ryerson, be a perfect send-off for many senior players and attract good cricketers to Ryerson in the future. With a lot to play for, rest assured, the Rams will be putting their all out on the field from March 11-15 at the Broward County Stadium as they look to return home as winners for ACC National Championship and ACC Midwest Regionals.
