Girlington Cricket Club claimed the Rizues T20 Cup crown – and a £1,700 prize – with a 36-run win over TABS at Bradford Park Avenue on Saturday afternoon.
Girlington won the Bradford Mutual Sunday School League’s T20 title courtesy of having also beaten Hallfield CC in a tighter morning semi by 20 runs.
Farhad Raja had an outstanding day with the ball, claiming a pair of four-wicket hauls, while Rizwan Mushtaq also produced a couple of key innings with the bat.
Girlington, TABS, Hallfield and Apperley Bridge were all involved in the league’s Vitality Blast style Finals Day.
In the first semi-final, Girlington, having been invited to bat, made 132-9, including Mushtaq’s 36 off 27 balls from number five in the order. He was the only batter to make it to 20 in the face of Murtaza Noor’s brilliant 3-12 from four overs.
In reply, Hallfield lost regular wickets to undermine their hopes, four of them to Raja, who only conceded 20 runs in a superb four-over spell. Shujjah Khan made 49 but received no support as they were bowled out for 112 inside 19 overs.
In the second semi, TABS won a low-scoring game against Apperley Bridge which wasn’t without alarm, despite bowling their opponents out for 96 inside 17 overs, last man Zia-Ur-Rehman unable to bat.
Zahid Khan led the way with three wickets.
In reply, TABS slipped to 26-3 to heighten nerves. But Ali Asif came in and hit a brisk 38 off 27 to break the back of the chase.
When he fell at 81-4, having dominated a 55-run stand with Muhammad Saleem (12), the bulk of the work had been done and the target was achieved by four wickets in 16 overs.
The final proved to be the highest scoring game of the day.
Girlington elected to bat and posted 181-5, underpinned by Mushtaq’s 51 retired not out from number four in the order. Khuram Rashid also added a late and important 42.
In reply, TABS made 145-6 – hurt by another four-for for Raja. He finished with figures of 4-34 from his four overs.
Top of the Group A league table with eight wins in 14, Girlington remain on course to achieve the BMSSCL double this season.
