Gifted & Talented Cricket (Formerly MARS Cup)

A combination of Year 8, 9 and 10 boys were selected as the best cricketers Slough & Eton has to offer and travelled to Burnham Cricket Club on Wednesday 1st July to play Burnham Grammar School in the first round of the 35 overs competition (previously called the Mars Cup). Some excellent bowling from our opening attack of Waqas Akhtar and Amman Uddin proved fruitful with early wickets being taken poor fielding and a lack of concentration saw Burnham Grammar eventually reach 169 all out. The chase was on and our batting was missing composure and shot selection until Waqas Akhtar emerged at no.4 to hit a stunning, unbeaten 97 to seal the win with 10 overs to spare.

Beating Burnham Grammar meant the boys then played Herschel Grammar at Farnham Royal Cricket Club on Thursday 2nd July. Again we bowled first and with much improved fielding a confident performance saw Herschel all out for 107. A fine catch from Tasawar Basharat from Waqas Akhtar’s second delivery of the game set the scene, sadly for Tasawar this catch was overshadowed by Amman Uddin later in the game who made a wonderful one handed catch off the bowling of Zain Sajid. One tremendous over from Waqas was a double wicket maiden as Sultan Bhatti took an easy catch and another batter was trapped LBW. This excitement was followed by our batting when again early wickets fell and then the middle order failed to add to our total. A last wicket stand from Ali Salim (20) and Daniyal Akhtar (15) gave feint hope until we eventually succumbed to the pressure and finished all out for 88, 20 runs short of victory.

The defeat meant we played in the 3rd/4th place play off on Friday 3rd July with Wexham standing between us and a top 3 finish. Some outstanding bowling was too much for our opponents who were all out for only 60 runs. Syed Kazmi took 5 for just 7 runs, Amman Uddin finished the week with another 2 wickets for 13 whilst Tasawar and Riaz Ahmadzai also picked up one each. Our batting was again our downfall with early wickets falling worryingly quickly. Ali Salim took to the crease and batted for more than 20 overs before getting into double figures, his patience and cool head ensured Slough & Eton edged towards victory. Eventually the target of 61 was reached in the 32nd over! Well done to the 12 boys who took part over the 3 day event.

Squad:
Tasawar Basharat, Riaz Ahmadzai, Syed Kazmi, Waqas Khattak, Zain Sajid, Waqas Akhtar, Ali Salim, Amman Uddin, Sultan Bhatti, Dishan Warnasooriya, Jawad Ifraz & Daniyal Akhtar      

Mr Leane
Head of Sport