Ufford Park are the Hunts Indoor Cricket League Champions
It’s a first title for five years for the village team who started the final day three points clear of a chasing pack led by Werrington, Hampton and AK11.
The first match of the day saw Werrington convincingly beat Wansford so if Hampton beat Ufford and AK beat Sheikh, the league would have been log-jammed with four teams on 15 points.
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Hide AdThe title would have been decided on head-to-head wins with Hampton beating more of the top teams so match two of the day was a ‘winners-take-all’ contest.
Twice runners-up Hampton started well and were 117-1 from eight overs with Jawad Ali, Ali Ghazsanfar and Muhammad Jahangir all back in the dug out retired on 25.
However, an outstanding ninth over from Usman Sadiq, as he picked up three wickets and only conceded 10 runs, backed up by a tight 10th over from Muhammad Raheel, who took a wicket and bowled three crucial dot balls, restricted Hampton to 140-5 from their 10 overs. Jawad Ali top scored with 29.
Ufford also started well and were 97-2 from six overs, needing 44 from the last four overs.
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Hide AdHowever, a huge seventh over which produced 32 runs saw Ufford home with 11 balls remaining.
Three Ufford players scored heavily with Raheel unbeaten on 38 and quickfire mid 20s coming from Usman Sadiq and captain Dan Peeroo.
After losing their first match of the season, Ufford won six on the bounce and will now represent Huntingdonshire in the ECB National Indoor Competition in February 2025.
AK11, who won last years Hunts indoor League, are representing Hunts in this year’s competition starting in mid-February.
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Hide AdWerrington finished runners-up for the first time in their history and they signed off their season in style with a huge 77-run win against Wansford.
Captain Muhammad Toseeq (31) Junaid Hussain and Hafiz Ali Butt (both 28) and 25 from Muhammad Shafiq were the batsman in form for Werrington in their 160-5.
Divyen Harish (24) and Janardhan (20) were the only Wansford batsman to make double figures in their total of 83 as Toseeq led from the front with 2-12.
AK11’s last match was over before it really started after a crushing win against Sheikh.
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Hide AdSheikh were restricted to 69-5 from their 10 overs, as Sufyan Mazaher was virtually unplayable with 2-4 from two overs. Sheikh indoor debutant Bashrat Hussain top scored with 26, but AK raced to victory reaching their total inside five overs with 31 balls remaining.
Pak Azad overtook Bretton in the last match of the entire season. Bretton posted 112-4 from their 10 overs with experienced duo Neil Buckingham and Mark Drake both retiring.
Haroon Bashir (28) Danyaal Mohammed (26) and Abdul Waris (25) saw Pak Azad over the line with seven balls remaining.
Individual top scores of the season: 81no Jawad Ali (Hampton); 78no Sharoz Hussain (Pak Azad); 77 Shehzad Akhter (Werrington); 75no Waheed Javed (Ufford Park); 69 Ali Ghazsanfar (Hampton); 61 Kester Sainsbury (Wansford).