Mac Johnson

Caption for bottom picture: Creighton Prep Senior Mekal Rana hypes up his team as they are ready to take the field. The tension, suspense and energy led directly into the start of the match, and everybody was pumped. ‘’ I feel that it was my duty to get everybody locked in from the get go so that we could win. The leader mentality bursted out of me the second we all got together.

Cricket, a game you do not hear much about from where we are from, but still finds a way to creep into the category of most popular sports in the world. A group of students from Millard North and Creighton Prep are finding ways to put life back into the game, as well as positively impacting their community through a group called Unicef.

Creighton Prep seniors Mekal Rana and Will Nelson are a part of the Unicef Club at their school. Unicef (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund) is a Humanitarian aid organization that helps struggling children worldwide. The organization has also found its way to schools including Creighton Prep and Millard North. In search of donations and support for their club, these seniors had the bright idea of a charity cricket match between the 2 schools.

‘’I really wanted to do something unique and different to raise money for our club, so what better way to do that than host a cricket match,’’ Rana said. ‘’My friends at school would always catch me watching cricket on my iPad, and suddenly a lot of them became indulged with cricket, whether it was asking me to teach them how to play or simply showing them what a bat and ball looked like in real life. So with me bringing the craze of cricket at Prep, I knew they would all be down to play in a match for Unicef.’’

Before Rana assembled his team, he had gotten on the same page as their opposition: Millard North. Rana knew they would be the perfect candidate because they too recently established a Unicef club and they also have a large desi population who would love to play cricket.

‘’The second Mekal texted me about the match it was an immediate yes,’’  Millard North Senior Suvaan Kallepalli said. ‘’We too were looking for ways to raise money for Unicef at the time, so we thought this could be a big hit. I let our whole squad know, and next thing you know we were out the next weekend practicing for the big game.’’

Both schools shared the details of the game on their respective Instagram accounts. In regards to the fundraising aspect, it would cost three dollars to watch live, and the two schools established a go-fund me page that fans and parents could contribute to.

‘’We ended up raising around 275 dollars as a whole group’’, said Rana. ‘’ All of the proceeds went to the Rosemary Child Love orphanage in Kampala, Uganda. The money goes towards their new school and facilities. We wouldn’t have been able to do it without the generosity of everyone.’’

After about a week-long of preparation, it was finally game day. Every single player was fired up and ready to showcase their skills.

‘’Millard North came out guns blazing on us,’’ Creighton Prep freshman Shemaz Rana said. We were the first ones to bat, and we really couldn’t get anything going. Their bowlers were nasty and they kept hitting wickets on us. After the first four overs, we only had eight runs, which isn’t very good.’’

Following a fierce bowling showing from the Mustangs, it was time for Millard North to scrap together a few runs and put the Jays in their place.

‘’Our hot start on the defensive end transferred very nicely to our surge on offense,’’ said Kallepalli. We had multiple sixes and fours which kind of put the game out of reach from the get-go. Taking advantage of their errors was also crucial if we wanted to be the last ones standing.’’

The trend of the Jays slowly chipping away at the score and the Mustangs scoring in huge numbers would make it very difficult for the Jays to win in the end.

‘’In the end Millard North was just the better team, they were seeing the ball really well, versus us being barely able to put a ball in play, ‘’ said Mekal Rana. With a final score of 82-50, it honestly wasn’t too bad for a lot of the first-timers on my team. In the end though, we had tons of fun and hope to play again sometime in the near future.’’

After the match, both teams celebrated as one by eating at the local Indian restaurant: Star Indian Cuisine. Everyone helped themselves to butter chicken, naan, and biryani. The food was the perfect compliment to the successful day the players put together. These students will cherish these memories and remember the impact they made for the rest of their lives.