Group F produced an exciting round of fixtures last weekend in the MITC Indoor Cricket Competition hosted at Laurel Park School in Enfield.
The first match between Hampstead and Middlesex Mavericks – a team of self-taught cricketers seeking asylum from Afghanistan and Pakistan) – produced a close contest. After winning the toss, Mavericks captain Hamedullah Haqbin chose to bowl. Hampstead CC got off to a cautious start, as the Mavericks bowling attack picked up wickets at regular intervals. Opener Subhan top-scored with 26, but at 69/5, the Mavericks had the north London side on the ropes, until the last over where they conceded 23 runs which included 14 wides. Chasing 98 for victory a target which, the Mavericks lost early wickets and never really looked like reaching the target. Rahim and Bashir top-scored with 24 and 23 respectively, but it was the Hampstead bowlers led by Moin Ali who starred in the 19-run win to get two crucial points.
Game two saw Actonians CC take on Hampstead CCin a run-fest. The Hampstead batters put up a strong opening stand of 50, with four of their five batters scoring 20 plus at a healthy rate. Zahreer top-scored with 33 off 16 balls to take Hampstead to 123 in 10 overs. Under pressure to reach the massive target, Actonians never really got into top gear. Sasan smashed 26 off 12 balls to provide hope, however, they fell short by 21 runs with three wickets in-hand. With the win, Hamsptead booked their spot in the knock-out rounds with two wins from two, making the final fixture between Mavericks and Actonians a battle for second place.
Mavericks skipper, Hamed, elected to bat this time around after winning the toss. After a slow start, Actonians bowler Zain Ul Abidin instigated a top-order collapse with three wickets in quick succession to leave the Mavericks reeling at 38/4 inside five overs. The last pair of Hamed and Dharani then went on to mount a comeback adding 84 runs from the final five overs. Skipper Hamedullah from Logar top-scored with an unbeaten 53 off 26, with Dharani adding 27 from the last over including four sixes in a row to put up a strong total of 122 from 10 overs.
Leading from the front, Hamed ensured to not take the foot off the gas, removing opener Zain from the Actonians early on, to firmly apply pressure on the West London side. Matt Robinson and Tushar put on a 53-run stand for the second wicket, but with the required run rate reaching 15 after six overs, the Mavericks knew they had victory in their sights this time around. Bashir, Rahim and Mohammed Sadat were amongst the wickets – giving the Mavericks a comfortable win by 46 runs and second place in Group F.
This concluded the group stages of the tournament, with the following progressing to the Quarter Finals:
