Sheffield and Bradford MCC Foundation Hubs met at Bradford Park Avenue Cricket Ground as part of the MCCF National Competition in late April.
MCCF Hubs provide cricket training and opportunities for state-school children and offer a ten week winter training programme as well as entry to the National Competition free of charge.
The MCC Foundation supports and nurtures the development of talented state-educated boys and girls – which fundamentally helps to support their progress towards playing representative cricket for their county. Once a player progresses to county honours, they are no longer eligible to continue attending or representing their particular Hub, giving others the opportunity to play.
In attendance on the day were Johnny Younis and Shakil Manir, Yorkshire’s Community Talent Champions for Sheffield and Bradford respectively. YCCC High-Performance Coaches Muhammad Azharullah and Bilal Anjam also joined the teams for the day and supported each of the sides in the warm-ups and during the games.
In the game, Sheffield batted first but were restricted by good bowling from the Bradford line-up. Jawaad Hussain (2-15) crashed through the top order early on, before a recovery from Harry Pearson (18) and Mobeem Kazmi (23) helped guide Sheffield through a tricky patch. But Abdullah Hussain’s 4-3 before the close of the first innings meant it was advantage Bradford going into the second innings. Sheffield 97-9 from their 20 overs.
In reply, Bradford then cruised to victory, with runs from opener Mahleb Mahmood (26) and the hard-hitting Jonah Thackeray (32) setting the tone, before keeper-batter Finn Brookes (20*) guided his side home to a seven-wicket victory.
Manir, Bradford Coach/Manager and Community Talent Champion said: “We really enjoyed hosting Sheffield MCCF Hub at Park Avenue Cricket Ground Bradford. Park Avenue is a fantastic venue with a great history and tradition, and I was hoping that that would work in our favour.
“The MCCF National Hubs Competition has opened up access to the talent pathway for talented young cricketers regardless of race, gender or economic circumstance.”
