By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
It took a long time to come off, but three years after building a cricket ground at Dupree Park, Jacksonville hosted its first-ever cricket tournament over the weekend. The Little Rock Cricket Club hosted teams from all over the south in the Labor Day Cricket Tournament that took place Saturday, Sunday and Monday in Jacksonville and Rose City.
The Little Rock Cricket Club was set to host the tournament the last two years, but poor weather caused last-minute cancellations both times.
Tempratures were unseasonably warm this weekend, but LRCC’s Andy Patel, who is also commissioner of Jacksonville A&P, said the tournament was a huge success after such a long wait.
“It was a lot of fun and we’re very grateful to Jacksonville for building the facility,” said Patel. “It’s a very popular sport worldwide and there’s plenty of room for people to come and watch and learn about something new. It’s a very entertaining sport.”
The host team did not perform as well as it would have liked. LRCC went 0-4, but all four matches were very close. The opening game’s final was a 167-166 loss to a team from Atlanta. LRCC had the lead, but Atlanta scored the game-winning run with only three wickets (like an out in baseball) left.
“We did really good in the scoring but we could not defend,” said Patel. “But all the games were awesome. It was really good cricket being played there this weekend.”
In the championship game, the Memphis Indian Lions defeated the Dallas Cricket Club 178-170.
LRCC will play again at 1 p.m. Saturday at Rose City.
