2015 England Champs Review
Last Man Stands England Finals
Saturday 19th- Sunday 20th September 2015
Another Last Man Stands season has reached its conclusion following the UK Finals weekend in North London. Southgate, Southgate Adelaide and Winchmore Hill cricket club's played host to a weekend of action packed Twenty20 cricket in which teams from all over the country descended on to have the chance to be crowned UK Champions and take home £2000 in prize money.
Saturday morning featured all eighteen teams as they each competed in two group matches across the six pitches. In Pool A GN Euro of Leicestershire topped the group picking up victories over both AON All Stars and Sheffield All Stars. Mohammed Ashgar Khan lived up to his star man billing scoring 50* versus Sheffield with Mohsin Patel taking 5-8. Safraz Patel matched Khan with an impressive 50* versus AON in the deciding game.
In Pool B favourites Taurus did not disappoint as they picked up two victories over both See You Next Tuesdays and NL Muslims. The match between SYNT and NL Muslims was an enthralling encounter with NL Muslims requiring 6 to win off 2 overs with the Last Man Standing. Some tight bowling and brilliant fielding led to a run out opportunity which was duly taken by the Tuesdays giving them a place in the bowl off.
Pool C saw Edinburgh Open Champions FJT Stallions defeat both Raw Pace and Aylesbury Outlawz in the first 2 matches, Dipyan Paul and Ahmed Khawaja making telling contributions with the bat. This meant victory for either Raw Pace or the Outlawz would cement a place in the bowl off. It was the Raw Pace men that rose to the challenge with Sameer Kazmi (3-16) and Abdullah Rana scoring a well made 50 taking them to victory in only 14 overs.
Pool D took place at Winchmore Hill with Old Seagullians opening their account with victory over Pak Stars Brighton. Khan Stars of Manchester then defeated Pak Stars by 37 runs setting up a winner takes all showdown against Seagullians. Batting first the Stars posted 148-3, Ikram Khan and Faridullah Shah both scoring 50's. In reply Seagullians could only muster 98 off 16 overs and took a place in the bowl off later that evening.
If there were a pool of death Pool E would be it. The Lahore Lions started the day with victory over the South Harrow Eagles however at 27-4 the Eagles had an opportunity but Usman Saleem, Shazad Malik and Asif Raza added 150 runs down the order to post 184-4. In reply some disciplined bowling and smart fielding restricted the Eagles to 132 all out. It was then the turn of Abby's Diner to take on the Lions. Again the top order faltered and at 80-4 it was left to Usman Saleem to again play catch up. He added 62 off 26 taking the total to a competitive 165-8. In reply Abby's Diner showed their Championship credentials making light of the total reaching it only 5 wickets down in the 18th over. The final game of the pool was won by the Diner giving the Lions the bowl off spot.
Finally Pool F game one was a one sided affair with the Lahore Badshaa's scoring an impressive 194-4 thanks to blistering 50's by Yadav and Syed. In reply Chakwal stars could only muster 97 as the Badshaa's showed their bowling could match their batting. The Stars bounced back from defeat in their next game by defeating Norwich's Fat Cat Tap in a low scoring game and all but securing a place in the bowl off. In the final game of the pool the Badshaa's were at it again scoring 178 against the Tap, Yadav and Syed again the main contributors. In reply Fat Cat again lost early wickets which made the chase an uphill task and were dismissed for 89.
On Saturday evening all teams finishing second in their pool assembled for the inaugural LMS UK Finals Bowl Off. The two teams that hit the stumps the most times would go through to the quarter final stages of the competition, the losers would enter the LMS London Cup. Chakwal Stars were the first team up and the pressure of the occasion showed as all six bowlers missed the stumps. Old Seagullians were next and had the first hit of the competition, however it was their only one.
Raw Pace were drawn third and hit with their first two attempts however missed the final four putting them into the lead. Lahore Lions were the fourth team to take on the unenviable task infront of a raucous crowd and again the nerves showed as only one player managed to hit the stumps. Finally it was AON All stars to bowl last, one of the tournament favourites and with the pressure on they crumbled as all six bowlers again missed the stumps. This left Seagullians and Lions in a sudden death situation and it was Old Seagullians who triumphed. Following two misses captain Elliot Brown stepped up and delivered a ball on middle stump, this couldn't be matched by his Lions counterpart and a place was secured in the quarter finals.
On Sunday the sun shone again, the grounds were a picture and a perfect venue to the conclusion of the Championships. In the first Quarter final tournament favourites Abby's Diner made light work of Manchester's Khan Stars as they restricted them to 117 off their 20 overs. In reply Tahir Nawaz scored a typically fluent 52 off 29 as the Diner raced to victory inside 14overs.
On the main field The Lahore Badshaa's who impressed in the group stages played Raw Pace, winners of the bowl off. Batting first Raw Pace made a more than competitive 151, Abdullah Rana with 50* however based of the Badshaa's batting performances from Saturday you could be forgiven for thinking they may be 30 runs light. In reply Raw Pace bowled with discipline and skill, none more so than Affan Butt who conceded just 17 off his 4 overs. Wickets fell at regular intervals and with 20 required off the last over the game was all but over. With 14 to win off the last ball a home run 12 put the Badshaa's just 2 runs short but the Pacemen were victors which sparked joyous scenes amongst players and fans.
The runners up of the bowl off Old Seagullians took on fourth in the World Taurus of Bradford and after winning the toss they would have been more than happy restricting Taurus to just 129 off their 20. Things looked even better at 65-0 off 8 overs however the introduction of spin proved problematic as Brown, Greene, Biswas and Phillips fell for a combined 13 runs in a matter of overs. With the run rate increasing Seagullians failed to reach the boundaries thanks to some impressive bowling from Adam Ahmed and Mahboob Hussain who completed 8 overs for just 32 runs. 18 runs were required off the last however they had left too much to do and Taurus sealed a remarkable victory given the situation of the game after 30 overs.
The final quarter final match featured FJT vs GN Euro. Batting first FJT carried on from where they left off on Saturday posting an impressive 186-3. Ahmed Khawaja (56) and Shahbaz Khan (54) starred with the bat but GN will be disappointed as they put down several catches which cost them dearly. In reply FJT removed key man Mohammed Khan cheaply and despite making starts Mohsin Patel (33) and Raja Hayat (23) were unable to go on and make telling contributions. Hassan Rahman bowled well for his 3-17 as GN Euro made 108-7 falling 78 runs short.
Semi final one contested Raw Pace and Abby's Diner. The Pacemen won the toss and decided to try and repeat their quarter final exploits by batting first and backing their bowling in the second innings, a plan which looked to be working as Mashel Alam retired on 50. Unfortunately only two other batsmen made it into double figures and when Alam came back into bat there was only time for him to add a further 11 to his score and set 123 for Abby's Diner to chase. In typical fashion Abbys set about the task by attacking anything on offer with width or anything too short. Nawaz again raced to 50* as he capitalised on some tired bowling. At 80-0 Jonny Younis came in and saw them to the target with some well placed shots and he brought an air calmness despite wickets falling at the other end. The Diners reached the target with 4 overs remaining ending a brilliant first outing at a UK Finals for Raw Pace.
The second semi final featured two of the most impressive sides at the Championships, FJT Stallions and Taurus. FJT Stallions won the toss and elected to bat first and openers Amjad Hussain and Burhan Mahmood made their intentions clear as they played some powerful shots along with some deft flicks, including a dilscoop or two. With the score 132-3 off 15.1 Taurus bowler Arsalan suffered a nasty injury which stopped play for over half an hour. With the match reduced FJT made the final over count as captain Mahmood smashed the ball to the boundary and with the final ball of their innings he hit a home run 12, taking the score to 150. Needing over 9 per over was never going to be an easy task for Taurus and they lost wickets at regular intervals preventing any momentum building. The introduction of Amjad Hussain effectively ended the contest as he returned figures of 3-5 off 2 overs. Taurus were dismissed for 88 runs in a disappointing but tough run chase.
After two days of great cricket played in tremendous spirit we reached the final, Abbys Diner versus FJT Stallions. Abby's won the toss and elected to make first use of the pitch with the bat. Abby's set about posting a total in their usual way but suffered an early setback as the dangerous Nawaz was dismissed for only 6. This brought Jonny Younis to the crease and he demonstrated a batting master class finding the boundary with consummate ease and rotating the strike with regularity to all bowlers preventing them to settle into a rhythm. Despite this Ahmed Khawaja (3-15) bowled with flight and guile and found support with some great fielding from his team mates. At 120-6 Younis returned to the crease and FJT has the opportunity to kill the game off. They failed to take the opportunity and bowled some wayward deliveries at this crucial moment. Younis was dismissed for a superb 62 off 32 setting 139 for the Stallions to win, the game was hung in the balance...
In reply the destiny of the match pinned on the top order of FJT and their ability to negate the skill of the Diner's opening bowlers. Unfortunately for FJT Tahir Nawaz (3-11) was looking to make amends for his batting display and he removed the top three for only 12 runs, swinging the game back into Diner's favour. Ahmed Khawaja (28) did his best to rebuild the innings but wickets fell at regular intervals and with the miserly Yaqoob (16 off 4 overs) runs were hard to come by. FJT were dismissed for a disappointing 87 off 14 overs however the plaudits must go to Abby's Diner who bowled and fielded superbly.
The conclusion of the UK Championships were reached and it was Abby's Diner of South Yorkshire who walked away as Champions for 2015 and took home £2000 (sponsored by LMSkit).
