BSS, Washington :
Bangladesh Embassy organized the 2nd Ambassadors’ Cricket Cup Tournament in Washington, DC in United State recently.
This time, the trophy went to the Pakistan Embassy Cricket team. This year the tournament was held at the Calverton-Galway Local Park, Maryland with support and cooperation from Washington Cricket League.
The tournament was participated by the Embassies of nine test-playing nations in Washington DC, namely, Australia, Bangladesh, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Trinidad & Tobago (West Indies ) and the United Kingdom.
Pakistan Embassy joined the tournament for the first time. In the final match, Pakistan Embassy defeated the Embassy of United Kingdom by 48 runs.
Earlier, the tournament began with the opening match between the Embassies of United Kingdom and New Zealand. Embassy of United Kingdom defeated the Embassies of New Zealand and Trinidad & Tobago (West Indies) to become champion in the Group ‘A’.
In group ‘B’, Bangladesh Embassy team played its first match against South Africa, in which Bangladesh won the match by six wickets.
Later Bangladesh played its second match against Pakistan, the winner in the match between Pakistan and Sri Lankan Embassy. Pakistan Embassy team reached the final by defeating Bangladesh Embassy team.
The Calverton -Galway local Park was in a festive mood despite rains in regular intervals. The players and a large number of audiences including the members of the diplomatic core and their families, the expatriate communities and the native enthusiasts kept the Cricket Field lively for the whole day.
At the invitation of Bangladesh Embassy, Ms. Nisha Deshai Biswal, Assistant Secretary State, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs visited at the playground with her family members.
Later, Bangladesh Embassy hosted the presentation ceremony and a reception at its Bangabandhu auditorium. Ambassadors and other representatives from the participating embassies, members the teams, representatives from State Department, among others, were present at the reception.
Bangladesh Ambassador H E Mohammad Ziauddin handed over the trophy to the champion team and the medals to the best players.
Mr. Graham from the Embassy of United Kingdom won the best bowler medal having taken 6 wickets, Mr. Bokhtiar from Pakistan Embassy won the best batsman medal having made 81 runs in just 3 matches and Mr. Adil Bhatti from Pakistan Embassy team won the man of the tournament medal.
In his remarks, Bangladesh Ambassador congratulated Pakistan Embassy team for winning the tournament and thanked all the embassies for participating, particularly the Embassy of New Zealand for initiating the tournament.
He expressed his hope that, such tournaments will foster friendship and cooperation among the Embassies as well as the Diaspora members of the Commonwealth nations.
The winning team Ambassador thanked Bangladesh Embassy for organizing this tournament so perfectly and declared that Pakistan Embassy will organize the tournament next year with more participation and enthusiasm.
