National Inter-school cricket tourney to start from July 30

New Delhi, July 24 (UNI) Under the aegis of BCCI-led cricket associations, the state of the game in the country at the junior level is poised for a tremendous growth with the launch of the Boost Cricket Cup 2007, a premier National under-17 inter-school cricket tournament beginning in Bangalore from July 30.

The Boost Cricket Cup which will be played at eight centres Delhi, Mumbai, Baroda, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Punjab, Chennai and Tamil Nadu, involving the top cricket playing schools of 14 cities, will culminate in the form of an inter-city championships, after which one school will eventually be crowned the undoubted champion school of the country.

Announcing the lauch of the tournament, T S Dayanand, General Manager Nutrionals of Glaxo Smithkline, the lead sponsor of the event said, ''There is a lot of talent in schools. We are keen to make the cup a fitting platform for the budding cricketers to showcase their talent.'' The format of the 61,500 rupees tournament has been structured to begin with the intra-city challenge, which will be open to all the schools of the above mentioned cities. However, the centre having more than one city will then play their own inter-city challenge to pick the eventual winner, following which the eight respective winners will then feature in the Boost Cricket Inter-city Challenge to find out the champion cricket school of the country.

''The tournament will benefit all the youngsters and serve as a catalyst to young cricketers of the country who are vying for a place in the national and international arena,'' said veteran cricket administrator and vice-president of DDCA Suresh Chopra.

He also urged the organisers to come up with a Twenty-20 tournament in the near future as according to him the nascent version of the game is the future of limited overs cricket.

Meanwhile, applauding the efforts of the organisers, former India wicket-keeper batsman Surinder Khanna said, ''We are sure looking for a new trend, new Tendulkar, new Dravid and new Ganguly as they seemed to have run out of steam. The tournament is an appropriate platform to nuture young prospective talents at the grassroot level.'' When asked about the imporatance of the tournament in the national level, former BCCI member and the brain behind the concept, P N Sankaran said, ''It is not an invitation cricket tournament. We have tied up with the respective state associations, which are in turn BCCI's representative.'' Interestingly, top 20 cricketers from the tournament will be hand-picked for a seven-day camp to be conducted by leading former cricketers of the country. Adding to it, from these 20 trainees, best five will declared as ''Ratnas'' and awarded with scholarships.

UNI