In October 2019, a handful of us started indoor tape ball cricket on the Parkwood Academy in Sheffield more renowned for as multi purpose gym with several badminton courts.Other than the fact we were all medics,I didn’t know much about Salman Rashid, Saud Ghazi, Ali Cheema, Umair Naseem ,Salman Gill ,Usman Naseer and Azhar Iqbal.There was one other common factor : Tape Ball Cricket.
In August 2020, on a social media platform called Tik Tok , when one of the my fellow Warriors’ bowler ,Sarmad Masud told me of a guy named “Billy” I was introduced to a vast medium which has taken UK by storm : Tape Ball cricket ! Sarmad himself hadn’t even known much about Billy then.
Last year,Sheffield Warriors started playing indoor tape ball with their own rules, one would say. Firstly it was indoors and then it didn’t feel as if 4 on 4 didn’t help motivate anything but just to hit sixes on the straight. Its a steep learning curve but only way to score and survive ! It was great fun though in winters at Parkwood.
” Billy ” whose real name is Bilal Ahmad ,is the skipper cum manager of Huddersfield Giants who burst into fame in Sheffield’s Don Valley Bowl in September 2020 winning their inaugural Sheffield Tape ball tourney, a tourney which he physically didn’t play due to injury but presented to the world via facebook live streaming – a superb new angle to the game where he streams through his mobile on a tripod stand almost every Huddersfield Giants game and does commentary on it.That is his third and probably his most decisive role.
In July, we went outdoors for the 1st time, post covid restrictions. All of the original crew who started off that October afternoon in the Sheffield Warriors were eventually involved and built up a steady participation of more on the High Hazels Ground in Sheffield.Saturday mornings have never been better.The Sheffield Warriors were formally named on the cusp of their match with Mansfield Vikings in September 2020.
Huddersfield Giants started playing Tapeball cricket in April 2020 at the Fartown Rugby ground and several of their original members travelled to their first ever series versus the Warriors on October 11 at the Don Valley Bowl.This was Giants’ second trip to south of the county since that epic tourney win on the same ground on September 19, three weeks ago.
In Game 1 , I won the toss sent the Giants to bat. Giants stutterred in the beginning but managed to get 77 in their allotted 8 overs.At one stage they weren’t expecting to come close but late gutsy hitting from frontline batsmen “Billy” and Mohammad Ali as well as one of the pro tape ballers in UK ,Amir Shahzad took them through.In response Salman Rashid played an impeccable knock almost guiding Warriors to a win.However his dismissal by Ali let the door open.Amir Shahzad’s late spell of 2 overs took Giants home as Warriors fell 4 short. At one stage they were looking home and dry with an opening of 56 between Sachin Karan and Salman.
In Game 2, Huddersfield Giants unleashed their armoury. Billy and Ali both took apart the bowling at various stages of the game amounting to monumental 122. In reply, Warriors had lost 2 wickets in 2 balls in the first over by Billy himself.Having part time bowling set in, Warriors came back and by the last over 35 were required to win. First ,Azhar Iqbal and then Saud Ghazi who spanked four sixes and a four and needed a six off the final ball to tie the score. He fell to Billy, his third dismissal of the game which wrapped the series up 2-0 in favour of the Giants by margin of 5 runs.
Dejected by the opening game loss, in a reduced six over game , the Warriors batted first in Game 3. On this occasion, they were racing through to a huge score. The whole of top order contributed towards a score of 102 in six overs.This target was equally unachievable and though Mohammad Ali tried after Billy’s big cameo , it was too great a score to overcome even in Saud ‘s final over . He held on to give a consolation win to the hosts. Giants took the series 2-1 but the Warriors gained a lot of pride in hosting the new tourney champs.Bilal had won this “Yorkshire Derby” taking another trophy up north.
There were numerous positives taken back by both sides on this bright sunshine baked autumnal day on a glorious ground in South Yorkshire.Both teams really savour playing on Don Valley Bowl and the Warriors had gained valuable experience in hosting their tape ball neighbours from north.It was something Bilal and I were striving for a few months to achieve and finally this myth was broken.It was a definite win for tape ball cricket and one huge step towards playing with other reputable teams for this newly formed club.
2020 Sheffield Warriors :
(left to right back standing : Malik Shahzad, Sajid Hussain, Sachin Karan, Sarmad Masood, Saud Ghazi, Salman Rashid.
Sitting : Azam Memon, Umair Naseem, Azhar Iqbal, Adeel Rauf )
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