The Minor League Cricket Finals took place this past weekend. The 2 conference finals were on Saturday and then the Grand Finale was on Sunday. Many people came out to watch all 3 games. Atlantic Conference Finals: New Jersey Stallions vs Empire State Titans Winner: New Jersey Stallions The Stallions took on the Titans in the 1st conference final. What proved to be a low scoring encounter was eventually won by the team from New Jersey. The Titans batted first and got bowled out for 125. Jaladh Dua top scored with 39. Sachin Mylavarapu stood out with the ball as he took 2/14(4) including the wickets of Griffith and Stewart. The Stallions now needed 126 runs to win in the conference finals. Rikhi, Powell, and Cambell all got 30+ scores as their team crossed the line. So the New Jersey Stallions made their way into the grand finale of MiLC after a 5 wicket win. The man of the match was Rovman Powell who scored 30 and took the big wicket of Barnwell. If we were to look at the extras in this conference finals, then we could see that the more disciplined team with the ball was the one which ended up on top. The Stallions bowled 9 extras, while the Titans bowled 17. Pacific Conference Finals: Silicon Valley Strikers vs Golden State Grizzles Winner: Silicon Valley Strikers In the Pacific Conference finals, the Strikers were up against the Grizzlies. The Strikers and Grizzlies had taken on each other twice before. This was during the league stage. The Strikers had defeated the Grizzlies on both occasions. Unmukt Chand was heading into this game with a century in the previous game. He hit a 132*(69) in the last game. This knock included 15 fours and 7 sixes. So Chand was coming into this game high on confidence. The Strikers batted first and put up 168/5 in their 20 overs with Chand hitting 59 and Jariwala making a 45. In the bowling, Neeraj Goel starred with 2/17(3). The Grizzlies now needed 169 to win. They got off to a bad start losing 3 wickets in the 1st 5 overs. Mohit Nataraj was the top scorer with a 48. In the bowling department, all 5 of the bowlers were among the wickets. The Grizzlies were bowled out for 135. The Silicon Valley Strikers won the conference finals by 33 runs. Unmukt Chand was awarded with the Man of the Match for his 59. Grand Finale: New Jersey Stallions vs Silicon Valley Strikers Winner: Silicon Valley Strikers In the finals, the Stallions won the toss and decided to bat first. At one point, they were 89/1. Then they ended up at 112/8. With some fightback from the lower order, the Stallions ended up getting to 141. Looking at the conditions, the Stallions were definitely about 20 runs short. The Strikers now need 142 runs to be crowned the national champions. The Strikers lost their top 3 inside the powerplay, including the big wicket of Unmukt Chand. But then Narsingh Deonarine hit a 52* and Roshon Primus remained unbeaten on 31. Narsingh Deonarine was given the man of the match award for his match winning half century as the Silicon Valley Strikers were given the title of the National Champion! I had the opportunity to meet some Cricketing legends including the likes of Colin Croft, Unmukt Chand, Saurabh Netravalkar, and Alvin Kalicharan.