Town C.C. Support Cricket in Nepal
It may be surprising to hear that cricket is the most popular sport in Nepal and the national team play one day matches against other countries such as Papua New Guinea, Oman and USA. A member of the Wreake Valley Rotary club had arranged a trip to the country to supervise a project they were sponsoring at a school for partially sighted/blind pupils and before going she was asked if she could take some cricket equipment. Town C.C. President, David Fox arranged for one of Syston’s junior coaches, Steve Dealey, to provided two bats which were duly packed into her luggage. The children play with a soft ball with bells inside to help to overcome their disability. The photo shows Nirmal, a blind teacher, with one of Syston’s bats.
Syston Town CC 1st XI finished on a high as, despite losing their penultimate match to Leicester Ivanhoe, victory over Kegworth in their final game ensured Premier Division status for another season in 2022. Syston fought hard against a strong Kegworth bowling attack to post a challenging 192-9 with Ram Ghuman top scoring with a solid 63. Syston’s opening bowlers George Corbett and Umar Razzaq made early inroads into the Kegworth batting line up then Zahir Taher (4-23) bowled superbly to ensure victory by 36 runs.
The 2nd XI won a splendid game of cricket against Ketton Sports. The visitors batted well to reach 188-9 but Syston got home to win by three wickets thanks largely to Mo Salagee (68) and Kabir Dhadyalla (50). In their final match against Leicester University Staff the team were well beaten but Adam Mortimer and his lads can look back on the season with great satisfaction and one which saw them improve in all areas of the game and finish in the top half of the table.
The Sunday XI finished the season with yet another victory. Welby were dismissed for just 63 with Yash Patel (3-19) the pick of the bowlers. Syston knocked off the runs in just ten overs with Mo Salagee smashing a rapid 40 not out. The team finished top of their division and look forward to some fresh challenges in Division 1 next season. The Burrough League team also had a splendid season finishing runners-up in Division 3. They too will be promoted and will also face some stiffer competition in 2022.
Roger Pole