The Discovery/Fox channel crew had set up camp in Mumbai and were on the lookout for a partner to help document Gully cricket and Underarm cricket in India. This program called 'An Aussie Goes Bolly' (AAGB II) is a sequence to a very famous soap on cricket, AAGB. The protagonist, Mr.Gus Worland is a cricket fanatic from Australia who has become a celebrity of sorts after the runaway success of 'An Aussie Goes Balmy' (AAGB) series back home. AAGB I covered the cricket fever in England. The Fox team finally contacted the Somaiya Social Cell to help do a documentary on Underarm cricket and organize a cricket match for them in the Somaiya grounds.
Our Role
The Somaiya social cell members arranged the venue, facilitated the video shoot in the neighboring underserved community and organized the cricket match on 16th October 2007. The team involved the cell members, people from the community and the fox team. The teams were formed to reflect the best teams in the World cricket, namely Australia and India. All in all, we formed the interface between the Fox team and the community. The idea was to bring out the passion for the game that thrives even at the lowest levels. The prizes were sponsored by the TV crew.
The Match
The match was played for 10 Overs. Mr.Gus Worland was the captain of the 'Australian' team and Mr.Kaushik (from Discovery) was the captain of 'Indian' team. The Social Cell members who participated in the match were Aravind VS, Aarti Bhandari, Akhila Sekhar and Satyam. Anand Ramachandran from the Social cell was the umpire. The toss was won by the Australian team and they chose to bat. The opening batsmen Deepak and Gus sent the Indian fielders running on their toes and the bowlers were finding it hard to get the batsmen out. Eventually Gus got out. Deepak showed a good performance at the crease and at the end of 10 overs, Australia managed 93 runs. India started losing early wickets with the captain Kaushik getting out. Slowly wickets started falling and India was all out for 60 runs. It seems even in under arm cricket India has to go a long way to reach the standards of Australia.
The match evoked a lot of interest from the community
The awarding ceremony of the Somaiya Social Cell 'Future Cup' was presided by Social Cell mentor, Mrs. Radha Iyer, who congratulated both the teams for their enthusiastic participation. Deepak from the Australian team was declared 'Man of the Match'. Akhila Sekhar from the Indian team was declared 'Woman of the Match'. Both of them were awarded with a VIP- Lounge ticket to view the Future Cup cricket between Australia and India to be held on 17th October in Mumbai. The match ended with a big round of applause from the audience for the Social cell team and the Fox team.
The fox team, just before the shoot...
The Publicity
The match was a huge crowd puller, with lot of spectators ranging from school children to the local workers. All the people who passed by had a look and enquired about the whereabouts and did not budge until they had seen at least some part of the match. The people from the community, the volunteers from the Social Cell as well as the Discovery/Fox team actively took part in the initiative and were able to enjoy each and every moment of the game. After the match, the Media team interviewed Mrs.Radha Iyer and Anand Ramachandran about the activities of the Social Cell and about the Indian element which the Australians should carry home after their assignment in India.
Somaiya Social Cell members with Gus Worland and team
The posters portraying the Somaiya social cell were put up in places which ensured high visibility. The banners as well as the labels(which were stuck to the t-shirts of the players) were explicit and they added to the publicity. We have also established good contacts with the Media team which can be leveraged to cover any social events in future. Almost all the people who passed along the place or who were living there came to know of our effort in organizing the match and more than that, the name of Somaiya Social Cell had become the common name of the neighboring areas of the Somaiya College.
More on Gus Worland and the Barmy Army:
http://www.granadaproductions.com.au/auba.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2006/11/23/scbrig23.xml
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