Inaugural cricket match is a hit

One day international player Kashif Raza and a plethora of first class cricketers from Pakistan served up some mighty hitting, sharp bowling and plenty of entertainment for a decent gathering at Gullivers on Sunday.

And many of these players had travelled down from far flung places such as Bradford and Chesterfield especially for the match which turned into an absolute cracker.

In spite of the superb batting from ESM pair Rizman Malik (51 retired) and Jaffar Nazir (69 retired), Sidley were still favourites to reach the target of 241-5 all the while Stirlands' overseas player Saeed Ajmal was at the crease.

But his departure for 51 was the catalyst for a sorry collapse in which the last six batsmen mustered 34, leaving them two runs short of their target when skipper Peter King was stumped amid gathering gloom in the final over of the 35-per-side friendly encounter.

Sidley's overseas players from this year and last Faisal Naveed (46), Imran Javed (34) and Nasir Shafiq (35) had got the reply off to a flyer.

First team captain and event organiser Scott Woodroffe said: "It was a terrific day and it was a great game of cricket. It was difficult because of the rain we had in the morning but Trevor Ramden (groundsman) worked wonders with the ground. Speaking to them after the game they really enjoyed it and they would like to come back next season. At the moment we're pencilling it in for next year."

Woodroffe would like to thank everyone who supported the game, particularly Sidley Sports Club. The ESM man of the match was Amir Zajjid who claimed 3-32 with the ball and scored 26 with the bat.