Cricket East

AK11 have a 3-point lead at the top of the Hunts Indoor League at the halfway stage of the season after a dramatic Sunday of Indoor Cricket. At the start of the day both AK11 and Bretton were joint top with an identical playing record of the same number of wins and the same amount of opposition wickets taken, however that has now all changed. AK marched on and continued their 100% record with a 2 wicket win over defending champions Ufford Park. AK11 won the toss and had no hesitation in bowling first using the brand-new orange indoor ball and the Ufford innings never really got going. Only 2 players made double figures with opener Shoaib Chaudhry top scoring with 42. The AK bowling and fielding was exceptional with Sufyan Mazhar leading the way with 3 catches, 1 run out and a wicket. An opening partnership of 55 between Zaheer Abbas and Abrar Ahmed started the reply well and the partnership was only stopped when the opening bat had to retire at 25. AK got to their victory target with 8 balls remaining and 2 wickets in hand despite the best efforts of Ufford bowler Waheed Javed who took 2-22 with both wickets being excellently caught and bowled. This defeat for Ufford means that the defending champions are out of the title race.

Bretton lost for the first time this season going down by just 2 runs to Wansford. Wansford scored 117-5 from their 10 overs with opener Kester Sainsbury unbeaten with 35. All 5 Wansford wickets were taken by members of the Bennett family with Andy, Dave and Ethan all involved with wickets and run outs. Chasing 118 Bretton started well with both Dave Bennett and Tom Sanderson retiring under ECB Indoor rules at 25. Matt Bennett scored a quick fire 16 but when he had to retire hurt due to an injury the Bretton innings lost momentum. Bennett and Sanderson returned in after retiring and the equation became 10 from the last over and 3 needed from the last 2 deliveries. The penultimate delivery was a dot ball meaning 3 needed from the last ball but a shot into the mid-wicket area was brilliantly caught by Anish Raju and Wansford were home to record their 2nd victory of the campaign. Kester Sainsbury was the Wansford bowler who kept his nerve bowling the last over.

Pak Azad have moved up to 3rd after recording their 3rd victory of the indoor season. After deciding to bowl first Pak Azad raced out of the blocks to have Hampton in early trouble at 40-3. Nadeem Choudhari top scored with 27 for Hampton to help push them up to 91 all out. Sharoz Hussain was the chief destroyer for Pak Azad taking 2-23 and also executing a run out.

Pak Azad raced to their victory target of 92 not losing a single wicket and all top 3 batsman Jawad Ali, Sharoz Hussain and Hayder Ali all retiring at 25. The victory was achieved by 6 wickets with 21 balls remaining of the match.

Werrington are up to 5th after a 17-run victory over Whittlesey. Werrington started slowly, but then accelerated quickly scoring 89 runs from the last 5 overs. Four Werrington players retired with 25 and then recycled back in again in order with middle order bat Mudassar Shafiq top scoring with a brutal quickfire unbeaten 44 which included four sixes and two fours. Whittlesey started well and had 4 players getting scores in their 20’s with two of them Sam Tyler and Chris White both retiring but a couple of tight bowling overs at the end saw Whittlesey get behind the run rate and Werrington win for the just the 2nd time this season.

Hunts Indoor League Results – Week 4 – Sunday 8th December 2024

Match 1 – AK11 beat Ufford Park by 2 wickets.

Ufford Park 99 all out from 9.4 overs. Shoaib Chaudhry 42 (1x6 and 2x4)

AK11 100-4 from 8.4 overs. Zaheer Abbas 34 not out (2x6 and 1x4), Sudheer Jafeer 19 not out, Abrar Ahmed 18 (1x4)

Match 2 – Pak Azad beat Hampton by 6 wickets.

Hampton 91 all out from 9.1 overs. Nadeem Choudhari 27 (1x6), Ali Shah 17 (2x6 and 1x4), Rashid Zafar 16 (1x4). Sharoz Hussain 2-23.

Match 3 - Werrington beat Whittlesey by 17 runs.

Werrington 147-3 from 10 overs. Mudassar Shafiq 44 not out (4x6 and 2x4), Mohammad Jawad 30 (2x6 and 1x4), Junaid Hussain 28 – Retired (3x6 and 2x4), Bilal Mushtaq 27 not out (1x6 and 1x4)

Whittlesey 130-1 from 10 overs. Sam Tyler 26 – Retired (2x6), Chris White 25 – Retired (1x6 and 1x4), Ian Jones 20 not out, Simon Parkes 20.

Match 4 – Wansford beat Bretton by 2 runs.

Wansford 117-5 from 10 overs. Kester Sainsbury 35 not out, Dhasarath Janardhan 21 (2x4), Anish Raju 18 (1x4), Kelsey Brace 17 (1x6 and 1x4)

Bretton 115-4 from 10 overs. Dave Bennett 32 not out, Tom Sanderson 25 (1x4), Matt Bennett 16 – Retired Hurt (1x4), Ethan Bennett 15.

LEAGUE TABLE AFTER WEEK 4: