Kenton cricket club was again the venue for the third cricket mela consisting of three cricket teams - Chatur Konkan che, Shivaji's Sainik's
and The Peshwa XI. With Manohar Rakhe and Jayant Gupte assisting with the days umpiring and Ravi Karmalkar officiating as the scorer, the Sunday event was filled with competitive cricket, great socialising and some sumptuous food to end the day.

After all the necessary pre match preparations, the 3 team captains - Vijay Vaishampayan, Prasad Pitale and Abhijeet Ranade opened the day with some short welcome speeches at 9.45am. The days focus was to maintain our Maharashtrian interaction, enjoy cricket and also encourage players to participate regularly within the UK club cricket circuit. The Akra Peshwa's - An all Maharashtrian cricket team is very likely to be registered as a regular London cricket team and should commence participating in the 2004 season from mid April 2004. Details and confirmation to be communicated by January 2004 and any cricketing enthusiasts support will be welcomed. Sporting associations are a vital mechanism of encouraging our future generations interact together and the facility provides a easy link for new Maharashtrians settling into the London and United Kingdom environment.

Three matches of 16 overs per side saw each team win once and throughout the day the cricket remained competitive and encouraged performances which would have done a regular playing club proud. Recognition for the various people who helped make the day possible as well as an enjoyable atmosphere for the various supporters / spectators and children all contributed to ensuring a fun filled day took place in some glorious summer weather. Each team fielded one female player and an admirable effort by Deepali Gosavi, Selena Siddiqui and Purnima Gore.

A big thank you to all the players for making the day a truly memorable
occasion and special thanks to the Rahul Apte and Mangesh Gosavi for the days proceedings, -Chaphekar family, Vikram Raje and Aniruddha Joag for assisting with some truly delicious food prepared on barbecues transported for the day.

The above summary report provided by Vijay Vaishampayan