The day started with everyone on time giving us ample time for a proper warm up session. Thanks to Ali for running some team drills to get us thinking and getting us ready for the biggest game of the season. Thanks to everyone who showed up on time.

We won the toss and decided to bat on a hard solid pitch as it was going to be hot all day. Junaid (30) and Ali (45) opened the batting. The opposition opened with their main spin bowler along with a quick bowler. Opening batsmen saw both opening bowlers out and we were cruising at 90-0 in 21 overs. 250 Plus was the minimum target at that stage. Junaid was out LBW soon followed by Sarfaraz and Ali that meant we had slipped to 110 for 4 by the time Mann was given wrongly out. Rest of the batsmen didn’t bother the scorers much by giving away wickets, however we managed to play 51 overs that meant less overs for opposition when batting. We finished at 157 all out.

We decided to get on the pitch 5 minutes before the usual time and held a detailed team meeting. The objective was to get everyone to think that come rain or shine we will fight till the last ball. We started our session like fighters and cornered tigers. Twyford started aggressively and hit a few quick boundaries. Imran then produced an unbelievable ball that had their main opening batsmen looking at his shattered stumps. At this stage Twyford had reached 78-1 in 19 overs. The match was still favouring Twyford and we knew they had some other key batsmen who could kill the game in less than 30 overs. Mozzam was given the ball and was clearly told by the
Skipper “ You have 2 overs to change this game “ and that’s exactly what Mozzam did by getting 2 wickets in 3 overs. Amir came on from the other end and managed to control the runs and we built some scoreboard pressure. At this stage Imran came back on to ball and produced the spell of the season that meant we could smell victory. Twyford had slipped to 110 for 6. Kashif was given the ball again and he did his job by making sure we were not leaking any runs.

Twyford then sent in youngster who played really well and refused to give his wicket away. A very good knock from a 13 year old who was only playing with a straight bat and had confidence to face all the bowlers. At this stage we tried 2 bowling options, which failed miserably, and Twyford were back in the game with only 22 required to win. Quick change of bowling meant that Kashif and Amir were going to bowl out the overs. At this stage Saffy took the catch of the season at backward point, which was a true game changer. Score had now reached 135 for 9 and their youngster was still playing with confidence as we hit 44 overs. Finally he was bowled by Amir that gave us the win we so badly wanted and deserved.
This was an incredible game of cricket played with a unity to make sure we win this game and never give up. I clearly remember hearing 2 players talk about “ Get ready for division 7 cricket “ and I told them keep fighting till the last ball.

Imran produced an unbelievable spell of bowling picking up 5 wickets taking his total wickets to 18 in less than 6 games. Kashif and Amir maintained scoreboard pressure, Mozzam with 2 key wickets at the most crucial time and our Wounded Warrior Ali who helped the team by getting a 45 while playing with a serious Injury.

This means we finished 7th with 207 points and 5 wins in the season. Division 6 cricket next year is confirmed for the 2nd team only because we refused to give up.

Thanks to all the players for everything you did this season to make sure that despite our challenges the 2nd team played the right way and we stayed in this division.

Do are died!!!