Disabled cricket: Pakistan fall 19 runs short of glory

England crowned champions of five-nation tournament.

KARACHI: Pakistan Disabled Cricket Team lost the final to England Disability Cricket Team by 19 runs in the five-nation ICRC International T20 Cricket Tournament being played at the BKSP Cricket Stadium in Dhaka on Thursday.

Electing to bat first, England posted a strong total of 175-4 in their allotted 20 overs as star batsman and man of the match, Callum Flynn, scored 45 runs off 29 balls, hitting eight fours, while Gordon Laidwan made 40 off 28 and Alex Hammond added another 30 off 28.

Pakistan’s Jahanzaib, Abdulah Ejaz and Fayyaz Ahmed took a wicket each, giving away 21, 22 and 43 runs respectively.

Chasing 176, Pakistan were restricted to 156-7 as Fred Bridges dismissed four batsmen while Dan Hamm and Dan Reynaldo took a scalp each.

Pakistan’s Rehan Ghani was the top scorer with his 25-ball 36 runs, hitting one boundary and a six, while skipper Hasnain Alam and Nihar Alam scored 26 runs each off 14 and 25 balls respectively.

“We approached the final with a positive game plan and had intended to restrict England under 140; however that failed to be the case,” Hasnain told The Express Tribune. “Even though we took wickets at regular intervals, every English batsman was able to add runs to the total.”

Talking about Pakistan’s innings, the skipper said: “We were a bit slow but we tried our best and reached close to the target. In the end I would say congratulations to England. They were the better team on the day.”

Published in The Express Tribune, September 11^th,  2015.

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