Rochdale premier cricket league round up

Councillor Sharif meeting the players

1 More Image(s) In Gallery

The second season of in-door cricket organised by Rochdale Sports and Cultural Links (RSCL) league has started.

Due to the huge success of last year 14 teams are taking part this year and they are: 

• 8 Stars
• Punjab
• 8 Lions
• Rochdale Lions
• Amazing 8
• Rochadalians
• Bury Panthers RYCC
• Lahore Rangers
• Speed Stars
• Max 11
• Thornham CC
• Paradise Stars Unique Sports

Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk and Councillor Mohammad Sharif formally opened the tournament. They were introduced to all the players.

A spokesperson for Rochdale Sports and Cultural Links said: “These activities are organised to keep the young people healthy and active and at the same time keep them off the street and out of trouble.”

The first game of the tournament was between RYCC and Paradise Stars. RYYC won the toss and decided to bat first. They scored 101 runs in 8 overs. The main contributors were Ali Shah (20 runs), M Siddique (17 runs), Ghufran (13 runs) and Iftikhar (12 runs). Good bowling from Imtiaz of Paradise Stars 2 wickets for 1 run and Kamran 2 wickets for 20 runs. Paradise Stars won the match with 3 wickets and 1.5 overs remaining. Good batting from Chand 19 runs Shahid 17 runs (not out) and Amjad 15 runs. RYCC’s bowlers unable to control their bowling and gave away 33 runs in extras and end up losing the match.

Second match of the day was between Rochdale Lions and Rochdalians. Rochdale Lions won the toss and elected to bat. Rochdale Lions made 114 runs and their 8 overs. Excellent batting from Rashid 33 runs (not out) and Zohaib Shah 18 runs. Rochdalians bowlers struggled to bowl right line and length and end up giving 38 extras. Good response from Rochdalians, Hameed scored 32 runs (not out) and Asif 34 runs (not out). Rochdalians won the match with 5 wickets and 1 over to spare. Rochdale lions bowlers also struggle to control the ball and gave away 32 extras.

Third match of the day was between Amazing 8 and 8 Stars. 8 Stars won the toss and invited Amazing 8 to bat first. Good start from Amazing 8 scoring 97 runs. Good batting display from Kamran 27 runs Omar 20 runs (not out) and Shakeel 12 runs. Good response from 8 Stars. An excellent opening partnership between Bukari 28 runs and Irfan 21 runs gave them good start. At the end 8 stars won the match with 3 wickets and 2 overs to spare.

The next match was between Bury Panthers Stars and Speed Stars. Speed Stars won the toss and elected to bowl first. A very good start from Bury Panthers Haneef scoring 25 runs, Sajid 23 runs and Ashraf 10 runs. Good bowling from Speed Stars at end restricted them to 94 runs. Not a good response from Speed Stars, losing their first 4 batsmen with 30 runs on the board. Good partnership between Sajid 21 runs and Sultan 17 runs gave them hope to win the match. Then late hitting from Khan 17 runs (not out) won the match for Speed Stars with 2 wickets. Good bowling from Sajad of Bury panthers taking 2 wickets for 6 runs only gave them some hope in the middle but none of the other bowlers contains the batsmen.

The fifth match of the day was between Max 11 and Thornham CC. Thornham CC won the toss and elected to bat first. Good opening partnership between Amjad 28 runs and Chris 19 runs and late hitting from Tom 13 runs. Thornham CC made 127 runs in their 8 overs. Good bowling from Sakib of Max 11, 3 wickets for 11 runs. In response Max 11 managed to score 88 runs in their 8 over. Max 11 lost the match by 39 runs despite good batting skills from Zeeshan 33 runs (not out), Umar 15 runs and Sakib 10 runs. Good bowling from Andy 0 wickets for 3 runs and Zafar 1 wicket for 13 runs.

The last match of the day was between Unique and Lahore Rangers. Unique Sports won the toss and elected to bat first. An excellent opening partnership between Asif 34 runs (not out) and Afridi 31 runs (not out) and then good batting from Noman 10 runs. They managed to score 135 runs in their 8 overs. Good response from Lahore Rangers Asif scoring 33 runs (not out) Adil 15 runs and Mazher 12 runs. But none of the other batsmen made any contribution and lost the match by 63 runs. Good win for Unique Sports.