European Open 2016 Review

European Open Tournament Review by Tournament Director Simon Melberzs.

Day 1 Thursday – As the last few teams arrived in beautiful Spain, we met at the Si! Restaurant for a meet and greet with all teams in their LMS Kit team shirts. Best dressed went to South West Bandits in their brand new matching ‘Runway Green & Yellow’.

Friday – Day 1 of Games

Was a beautiful day in La Manga as all of the teams arrived for the first matches. 8 matches were played on the first day with victories to FJT Stallions, The Crab CC, Bar Field Sobers, Uncle Charlie and Project Inzi. Notable performances included:

Burhan Mahmood (FJT) – 53* off 28 Balls and 52* off 24 Balls

Ayaz Alam (HM8) – 52* off 40 Balls

Russ Walch (The Crab) – 50* off 43 Balls

Matt Higham (The Crab) – 55* off 30 Balls

Wayne Greve (Bar Field Sobers) – 52* off 42 Balls and 50* off 34 Balls

David Gallimore (Uncle Charlie) – 50* off 35 Balls

Aadil Khan – 3 for 20 off 4 overs

Imran Qadir – 50* off 20 Balls

Tanweer Sikandar – 55* off 17 Balls

Neil Robertson – 50* off 30 Balls

Saturday – Day 2

The final group matches were played on Saturday  with FJT Stallions, Her Majesty’s 8, Team Redbridge and Bar Field Sobers recording victories. South West Bandits couldn’t quite get the job done against HM8, which left them the only team without a win. The best performances of the day were:

Neil Robertson – 51* off 24 Balls

David Gallimore – 3 for 51 off 4 Overs

Tanweer Sikandar – 72* off 35 Balls

Burhan Mahmood – 3 for 21 off 3 Overs

Russ Walch – 50* off 46 Balls

Matt Tigg – 50* off 29 Balls

Aumer Ali – 3 for 16 off 4 Overs

Nick Ison – 55* off 38 Balls

Steve Maddock – 3 for 27 off 4 Overs

Following the end of the group matches, Barfield Sobers and FJT Stallions topped the groups, with Uncle Charlie and Team Redbridge also qualifying for the Cup semi-finals. The semi-finalists for the Plate competition were HM8, Project Inzi, South West Bandits and The Crab CC.

Sunday – Finals Day

The early semi-finals saw Team Redbridge play FJT Stallions in the Cup competition and HM8 vs The Crab in the Plate. FJT knocked up 143 off their 20 overs batting first with lots of individual contributions. Team Redbridge could only manage 119, despite 62* off 43 balls from Matthew Tigg, with star performances from FJT’s Farhan Ejaz (3/19 off 4 Overs). HM8 battled The Crab in the 1^st Plate semi-final, with some great all-round performances from Ibrhar Khan, Aumer Ali and Ayaz Alam helping them get up over The Crab, who were led by 61 off 46 from Steve Hutchinson and 3 wickets to Chris Siddall.

In the 2^nd semi-final, Bar Field Sobers tackled Uncle Charlie in the Cup. Uncle Charlie got off to a cracking start setting a target of 160, after 50* off 21 from Neil Robertson and 53* off 41 from David Gallimore. In reply, Bar Field Sobers fell behind early and couldn’t recover finishing with 124 off their 20 overs. In the Plate semi-final, South West Bandits went down to Project Inzi by 16 runs, with 1 fantastic performance from each team. 78* off 67 Balls from Aadil Khan from Project Inzi and a superb 4 overs, 3 wickets for 12 runs from the Bandits’ skipper Lee ‘Lipstick’ Nessling.

Plate Final 

The Plate final saw Project Inzi (Yorkshire) take on Her Majesty’s 8 (London). Project Inzi batted first and the top 7 all got going without producing any scores above 21. They eventually finished on 112 after 20 overs. In response, HM8 probably put together their best batting performance of the competition, a super 51* off 33 balls from Ibrhar Khan getting them to 112 for 2 after 14.2 overs. Player of the match went to Ibrhar Khan.

 Cup Final 

The Final of the LMS European Open, was a battle between the favourites FJT Stallions and the surprise packets Uncle Charlie. Uncle Charlie won the toss and batted first, player of the tournament Neil Robertson, managing a top score of 36 of 27 as Charlie lost regular wickets to get to 122 all-out with 2 balls remaining. Tanweer Sikandar was the pick of the bowlers with 3/19 off 3.3. In reply, a blistering partnership between Tanweer Sikandar (51* off 29) and Imran Qadir (30 off 29) had the Stallions in prime position. A mini-collapse applied the brakes somewhat but some cool heads saw them home off 16.4 overs. Player of the Final was Tanweer Sikandar for his great knock and some tight bowling.

Following the final a fantastic gala dinner was held at La Manga Club Resort. Attended by all the teams, the presentation was made to the winners FJT Stallions and HM8 and the runners-up. Individual awards were also handed out for Player of the Tournament (Neil Robertson – Uncle Charlie), Young Player (Sufyan Khan – Bar Field Sobers), Spirit of Cricket (Tom Barney – Uncle Charlie), Best Supporter (South West Bandits, received by Kerry Barr), Umpire (David Edwardes), Fastest Delivery (Mahbubur ‘Masum’ Rahman – Team Redbridge), Oldest Player (Colin Mills – Bar Field Sobers) and Teammate Award (Naveed Ali – Team Redbridge).

Overall the event was a fantastic success, with great cricket, fantastic weather, an amazing setting and a superb time had by all involved. If anyone wishes to find out about more LMS Tours, the next ones will be Nottingham Open, Bath Open, British Open in May. For all other Tours please see the website www.LastManStands.com/Tours.

I’d personally like to thank everyone for attending. I had a fantastic time and I hope everyone else felt the same. Look forward to growing into an even bigger event next year.

Adios Amigos!

Visit Last Man Stands on Facebook for more pictures of the Tournament.

 

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Special thanks goes out to all the sides that made the event such a success, La Manga Club and the Tournament Director Simon Melberzs.

See you in 2017.