Month: September 2020

Striking High !

Striking High !

Darnall has been famous historically as centre for coal and steel. Many of its residents in that era were involved in the steel work industry in the industrial revolution . Amongst the green spaces in this suburb of Sheffield, a 20 hectare parkland was unveiled as public recreation ground in late 19th century.This parkland already had a cricket ground called Darnall New Ground and had cricket played on it as far back as 1820’s.

In 1895, this facility was called the High Hazels Park named after High Hazels House it accomodated.Today its changed to the Tinsley Golf course clubhouse and also has facilities for local tennis courts.The New Darnall Ground now is part of the High Hazels Park which houses an artificial free to use cricket ground.

The Sheffield Warriors are made of expatriate Pakistani professionals, most of them medics living in the area .They had made the ground at High Hazels their own this summer.The scene was set for them to host their first 11 a side tape ball inter city game organised by SHAPD.On Saturday, 5th of September, the newly formed Sheffield Warriors who had been playing on this turf since ease of lockdown restrictions in July, took to the field against Mansfield Vikings.Needless to say, they had better awareness and strategy on the day.

In Game 1, Warriors’s skipper Hafiz Umair won the toss and without hesitation , elected to bowl in windy and overcast conditions. They had 2 run outs straight away which were catalysed by some tight new ball bowling from the their young left armer Sarmad Masood and vigilant fielding .They continued this pressure with the help of their attack spearhead Saud Ghazi in the following over.Umair bowled a rampant third over and broke through as well.He would go on to decimate the opposition picking three more wickets to wrap up four in his 2 over spell.The opposition didn’t know what hit them.

The bowling changes were according to plan and wickets kept on falling for Mansfield who found themselves in no man’s land at the half way stage. Their middle order batsman Tauqeer Nasir was the only positive,top scoring in an otherwise modest total of 80.The Warriors outfield catching had also supported their bowlers well, picking up timely catches in the run heavy leg side.

Set 81 to win ,the Warriors’ run chase started with a blistering opening over that yielded just 2 runs off wides from their pacer Zeeshan Hassan .Malik Shahzad and Adeel Rauf started off the innings and built up steadily the chase until Shahzad was caught on the third man area.At 40/1 in 6 overs, Mansfield were eyeing a chance but Zeeshan had finished his spell. Salman Rashid came at one down ,and quickly settled well,killing the run chase with five sixes ( four in one over ) to drive the Warriors home with a 9 wicket win. He is used to tormenting many bowlers on weekend on that square boundary.

Buoyed by success and the hearty chocolate cake at lunch, the Warriors won the toss and batted in drier afternoon conditions.Umair and Faisal Baig started on this occasion and made a decent start although Umair was bowled with the score at 31.Then stepped up Malik Shahzad.He played an anchor role and decimated the opposition with his towering sixes on square leg and mid wicket.He slammed the ball for eight sixes in his fifty in no time before being caught in the deep. This was enough to launch the Warriors to a decent push. Although they lost quite a few middle order wickets,some late gutsy hitting from Sarmad took them to 115 in their 10 overs.

Sarmad’s opening over was again testament to the Warriors’ bowling prowess.Saud and Umair followed up their earlier spells in tandem with both picking crucial wickets. The only respite for the visitors was their skipper Adnan batting in this game but the rest of the innings struggled to take shape.The Warriors left it to some later order shuffling of their part time bowlers to finish the quota of ten overs as wickets tumbled regularly for Mansfield.Once again the fielding and outfield catching was superb.This was an emphatic series win.

The days proceedings were concluded with a candid presentation of prizes that ended a fun filled day for the home side.Tauqeer Nasir was adjudged man of the series from Mansfield whilst Malik Shahzad won the man of the series award for Sheffield.Their batting performances were a treat to watch.

What is next for this mix of steel willed, cricket passionate professionals who make every Saturday their highlight of the week.Is it hosting other teams locally or travelling to other towns and cities to find new challenges ? Or will life continue at High Hazels as it does on any given Saturday ? We all await for the next challenge for these band of brothers who now have found their first zest of team success.

( This blog is dedicated to the players of Sheffield Warriors and Mansfield Vikings , who took field as well as Umpire/Scorer Azam Memon for his all round help on the day)

Tour Diaries: Part 4 – Beyond the Lights !

Tour Diaries: Part 4 – Beyond the Lights !

A growing concern for test cricket has been the rise of the shorter version of the game.The T20’s. They have taken the game by storm.The commercial aspect of the game has grown astronomically and become the backbone for any home board ‘s finances with the TV money and surging attendances that it attracts.

At the time of this tour being scheduled, the three T20s were to provide some much needed warmup to the ICC World T20 due in October.Covid-19 delayed the ICC World T20, the high profile event was replaced in the same window by IPL, the biggest T20 league. Similarly, PSL 5 is yet to be decided and the window provides opportunity to it to be completed.As we speak, those T20’s will be taking place in mid-November. 

The first T20 in Manchester was abandoned with England 131/6 in 16.1overs.There wasn’t much to write home about that except for Tom Banton ‘s 71 and the spinners getting some good wickets to come back. Mohammad Hafeez was kept in and he justified his slot by knocking in a 69 in the next T20, a game covered by BBC for the first time since 1999 World Cup.

In the middle T20, Pakistan set out a good total given the conditions were ripe for high scoring. Fakhar Zaman and Babar Azam set off to a flier.Babar’s wicket when he scored 56 then reduced that surge however Mohammad Hafeez facing the scorn of social media was able to carry on some frantic hitting, taking the score to 195. This looked a good score from Pakistan’s standards. It was the highest score posted at Old Trafford.Shoaib Malik and Iftikhar Ahmad failed to impress despite the high score.

Chasing 196 wasn’t going to be easy but the opening set a 66.Shadab bowled a huge 7th over after the power play.He took Johnny Bairstow’s and Tom Banton’s wickets in consecutive balls.He could have taken out the skipper, Eoin Morgan’s wicket as well which was given a not out and despite review managed to save him , only to hit a blinding 66 off 33 balls.That was the match really with Malan playing a supportive 56 not out. Shadab finished with 3/34.

This would have been another morale crusher with Greenshirts not able to defend a huge score just like the test.However, the visitors brought in some much needed changes following the loss.Haidar Ali the much talked about youngster who  thrived in the PSL earlier in the year with Peshawar Zalmi came and outscored his colleague Tom Banton in the final T20.

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He had a blistering debut scoring a 50 off 27 balls.Right from the second ball, when he hit at six, he was looking like in control. With Hafeez, who again played a blinder with an 86, the Greenshirts towered another total of 190 for the evening.It looked as if England would be able to manage this target but on the evening start, England were shelled with Shaheen Shah’s  fury of pace initially.

One of the highlights of the innings was when Moeen Ali ‘s stumping was missed  early on in his innings with the wicket keeper and ex captain Sarfraz Ahmad failing to dislodge the bails. This could have been a key point in the game as Moeen went on to make 61 and almost taking England home. Wahab Riaz had other ideas in mind with a brilliant 19th over.That saved Pakistan and despite a late Tom Curran six, came home with 5 run win to finish off the tour with their sole win.The trip back home might not be so bad now.

Mohammad Hafeez was man of the match and man of the series ending any speculation that 2021 World Cup would be a step too far for him to be retained.Haidar Ali was a pleasant new entry into the T20 squad and one that was much needed. Wahab Riaz proved his death bowling is still premium quality as compared to a lingering Mohammad Amir.Once again death hitting by Pakistan is found lacking and Shadab s spin bowling still isn’t a finished article.There is a lot to take back home and reflect for now.

Although, England were playing a relatively weakened side, they face an enthralling series with Australia coming for a limited over international series soon. More fireworks will surely be set to fly.