Hello 'About Us' page. What is this website all about?
Hey you. Welcome to MPLBuzz.
This website is the home of the MathWorks Cricket Club (MCC), a group of about 90 cricket enthusiasts based in and around the Natick township, in the state of Massachusetts.
We work in the field of software, and earn enough to pay for the bills, and then some. Truth be told, work is only a way to stay busy through the winter. The goal is to get together over the summer to play cricket.
This website is also the place where you find out the latest Buzz on the MPL.
You guys seem to be passionate cricketers.
Oh absolutely. Some of us would like to have cricket proclaimed an official religion, with hundred’s of God’s to choose from to worship.
But fortunately, and by no small means, thanks to our families, our place of work, friends and society as a whole, we have a life.
The pursuit to have cricket anointed an official religion hasn’t become an important enough crusade, just yet.
Okay, I take that back. You guys are nuts. So, enough of that. Tell me more on the cricket front.
Alright, alright. No need for any name calling.
Coming back to earth, we play the hard-tennis-ball brand of cricket starting towards the end of April through to the end of September. We also have a team of about 20 players that plays leather ball cricket during this time.
We start with practice and pick-up games early on in our season - on a weekday evening or two, between 6 PM to 8 PM.
Additionally, we also play T20 matches against other teams in the area over weekends, between 8 A.M. to 12 P.M. as another avenue to warm-up for the season ahead.
So what's the season like?
Our season includes playing in the New England Cricket Association (NECA) and the MathWorks Premier League (MPL).
NECA is a T20 league of about 42 teams in the greater Boston area, spread across divisions, that play for the ‘Friendship Cup’. The league starts over the first weekend of June, and wrap's between late August and mid-September.
MCC fields two teams in NECA - one team in division-A, and one one team in division-B.
Each team plays about 11 matches in the round-robin format, one per weekend. No matches are scheduled over long-weekends.
The playoff's, there onward, determine the league champions for the season.
MCC also fields one team in the MSCL, a leather-ball based cricket league of around 50 teams in the greater Boston area.
Their season is May through August with 40-overs a side matches being played between 12 PM and 6 PM. The playoffs are held in September.
The highlight of our season though is the MathWorks Premier League, aka the MPL.
What is the MPL?
We are so glad that you asked. We were worried that you might not ask us.
The MPL is our very own franchise based cricket league. But, this is no ordinary franchise based cricket league. This is league of heroes, for heroes, by heroes, who sometimes get a zero on the field! Literally!
The MPL founded in 2009, is held June through August.
What started with three teams of 10 players each, had evolved to six teams of 15 players each during the 2019 season. The 2021 season includes only five teams as we slowly get back to Cricket post-pandemic related shutdown.
Each of the teams in our league of heroes are apltly named after super-hero groups - 'Avengers', 'Incredibles', 'Justice League', 'Suicide Squad', 'Transformers', and 'X-Men'.
Matches in the MPL, 14 overs a side affair, are played exclusively on weekday evenings after work - Monday's are no longer a drag! Each team plays one match a week, with the odd week where a team might play two matches within the same week.
Each team plays (approximately) 10 matches in the round-robin format. The top three/four teams face-off in the playoffs, where the winners of the final are crowned champions, get medals (seriously), and bragging rights for a lifetime.
Okay, that sounds interesting. Tell me more about the MPL.
To register for the MPL, please ensure that you are registered with the MathWorks Cricket Club for the upcoming season. Registration for the MPL closes around the 20th of May for existing members - those of you who have played with us in previous seasons. Registration for the MPL for new members is usually open throughout the season.
The captains, the face of the super-hero teams, are revealed by May. That is followed by an evening of fun and frolics - the Awards Night, to recognize the winner's of the previous season, followed by the Player's Auction for the current season.
Each team gets a purse of $100-$110 to bid on player's. The money is virtual, but the fun is real!
The MPL starts the week after the Memorial Day holiday - first/second week of June - and wraps up mid-to-late August.
It's not just cricket on the field through the MPL season. We have live scores for each match, detailed statisics from all matches, match summaries published on our blog roll, player rankings based on our own points formula, multiple flavors of fantasy cricket, and a very ruckus virtual dugout, and a decent audience for each of the matches.
What about ..
Alright buddy, enough of having a conversation with a static webpage. If you have read so far, then you belong with us. Thus, do the following:
Register for the season, if you haven't yet already. Registering twice doesn't get you two turns to bat in a match! However, not registering will definitely get you zero chances to bat in the same match.
For further questions, ping anyone of Aditya Bhatter, Ganesh Iyer, Kunal Kadakia, Raghuvir Leelasagar, Yeshwanth Devara, or anyone wearing a 'MathWorks Cricket Club' shirt on campus, or post your question(s) in our virtual dugout refernced above. Most assuredly anyone and everyone in the group will be more than happy to answer your question(s) in every which way, that will leave you confused, and without a clear answer to your question. The clarity in answering your question(s) is inveresely proportional to the number of questions you ask.
Okay Okay. Just one final thing. Which ground(s) do you guys play at?
Yes, good question, That's an important detail that we completely forgot, didn't we. See, we need you in our group, cause you have an eye to 'catch' such important details!
MPL matches are played at one of two grounds:
Ashland Field: 457-471 Chestnut St, Ashland, MA.
YMCA MathWorks Field: 45 East St, Hopkinton, MA.
Practice matches are also played at one of these grounds, but also include:
Mary Dennison Field: 68 Beaver Street, Framingham, MA.
Details for practice matches are announced in our virtual dugout 'MPLBuzz', and on our Twitter handle @mplbuzz.