Date:29/11/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/11/29/stories/2007112951280200.htm

Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore

T20 cricket fever grips Coimbatore

Sports Reporter

Attractive cash prizes await first four finishers
Entries close with Pavizham Jewellers on December 5

Coimbatore: The Pavizham-UTV Cup cricket tournament is all set to take the city by storm next month.

Planned from December 22 to 30 at various venues, the day-night tournament, to be played with tennis ball, will feature the T20 format from the quarterfinal stages.

Preliminary stages

Matches in the preliminary stages will be played on 10 overs a side. Each bowler can bowl only a maximum of two overs.

“We wanted the T20 format from the preliminary rounds, but we decided otherwise, looking at the flow of entries. Also, our idea is to reach out to the masses and spread the game of cricket,” said Lijo Chungath of Pavizham Jewellers.

Entries

Barely two hours after the announcement was aired over an FM channel on Wednesday, Pavizham received about 100 entries.

“We expect it to cross 750 but may restrict it to 500 because we want to maintain some standards.

“We do not want to compromise on quality for the sake of quantity,” said Mr. Lijo, a former university cricketer from Kerala.

Attraction

The reason for the big attraction is the cash prize offered by the organisers for the first four finishers.

The winner and runner-up will take home Rs. 50,000 and Rs. 20,000, and the next two positions Rs. 10,000 and Rs 5,000 respectively.

Attractive gifts such as colour televisions and home theatres also await the best batsman, bowler, all-rounder and the man of the final.

Highlights

The highlights of the matches and other interesting clippings will also be aired by UTV every day.

To make it exciting all the way, the organisers also plan to accommodate most of the entertainment components of the T20 World Cup in South Africa.

An interesting feature will be a programme titled -- the fourth umpire in UTV after every match.

“This is to pull the crowd to the grounds,” said Mr. Lijo, and added that from next year, if things worked well, the tournament would be played with stitched ball.

Details

Entries close with Pavizham Jewellers, Cross Cut Road, on December 5.

For further details, contact 2233849, 2232399, 2232406 and 98941-89666.