Local cricketer named MVP of Seattle league
December 22, 2008
By Christopher Huber
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Hassan Shah (right), of Issaquah, bats at a cricket tournament in Chicago. Contributed
Hassan Shah moved to Issaquah early this year, after living in Chicago for 20 years. He came here to run his restaurant, Bangalore Cuisine of India.
But the 36-year-old businessman from Pakistan couldn’t move here and not play cricket, one of the most popular sports around the world. “It’s my spiritual game,” he said of his dedication to the sport he has played since age 10 in Pakistan. “It’s the only sport I’d die to play.”
Shah was chosen as the Seattle Cricket Club’s Most Valuable Player for 2008. His team, the Seattle Patriots won the Northwest Cricket League championship in 20/20 cricket, the shortest of the three game lengths, and Shah was the leading scorer.
“He’s a professional,” said teammate and Seattle Patriots vice-captain Shahzad Jamani. “He has the whole art and the whole playbook of shots. He’s perfect pretty much.”
The club is part of the Northwest Cricket League, which consists of 20 teams in two divisions around Washington. Shah is a batsman for the Seattle Patriots.
Shah has played with some of the best cricketers in the world. He has also been nominated to the U.S. national cricket team three times and has played Pakistani national team members.
His boyhood friend and classmate Wasim Akram is known as one of the best fast bowlers in the history of the sport. He’s been surrounded by the best his whole life. And he seems to rub off on his teammates.
“He’s a very experienced cricketer and we actually learned a lot from him,” said Jamani, who has played for the Patriots for four seasons. “He cheers the team up and he’s not, like, a downer.”
The caliber of competition in the Seattle area is average, Shah said, compared to the high level of play in places like Pakistan, India, the Caribbean and New Zealand.
Part of the issue is the weather, he said, which affects the firmness and quality of the field and pitch they play on. Seventy-degree weather is ideal for playing cricket, he said.
More than half the world plays cricket. But for the U.S., which doesn’t have much representation on the world cricket scene, the Chicago teams he played for were highly competitive, he said.
Shah said he just needed to play after moving to the Seattle-area. The level of competition didn’t matter. All that mattered was that he had the opportunity to play.
“It’s my life,” he said.
He trains at the gym four to five times per week and, when he’s not playing for the Patriots, he competes on a Canadian team.
He said cricket is as much physical as it is mental.
“You have to be 110 percent fit,” Shah said of the tough, physical aspect of cricket. “I think I’m made for cricket.
But “cricket needs a lot of practice. You can’t play cricket without a lot of practice.”
The game is the most comparable sport to American baseball. Two teams of 11 players play on an oval-shaped field with two “bases.” The team that scores the most points by running from home base and back before getting 10 overs, or “outs,” wins.
The batter must protect three wooden wickets — they look like croquet posts — while standing behind the home base. He must keep the ball from hitting the wickets. If it does, it’s an “out.”
The ball is harder than a regular Major League baseball, so the players wear leg and hand protection similar to hockey pads.
A batter is also out if a fielder catches the ball before it hits the ground or if he touches the base before the batter.
A “bowler” pitches the ball, which must bounce once before reaching the batter, and the batter can choose to hit it and run or let it pass by.
Shah said he sometimes wishes he were 16 again and playing every day, but no matter where he plays or how old he gets, he will always appreciate how the sport brings people together and teaches them to work together.
“It’s a gentleman’s game,” he said. “It’s a wonderful game.”
When it comes to other sports, Shah said he likes to shoot billiards. Otherwise, he’s a cricketer through and through.
“With other sports, I don’t always get on the team,” he said. “If it’s cricket, they have to put me on the team.”
Reach Reporter Christopher Huber at 392-6434, ext. 242, or chuber@isspress.com. Comment on this story at www.issaquahpress.com.
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