Scorecard

After a great victory against Windy City, Villa Park were only 2 steps away from championship. On a cold Saturday morning Villa Park faced Streamwood for the Semi Final. Streamwood won the toss and elected to bat. In the cold conditions fielding was going to be difficult but Villa Park was charged with energy, fielder where stopping every drive and backing up every throw. In the first over Dilip Makwana was run our by Furqan Qureshi courtesy of a direct throw at the stumps. With 1 run on the board Streamwood lost their first wicket. Opening bowler from Villa Park maintained their line and length and did not let any of the batsmen score runs. Next batsman to go was Samir Chaudhari who was trying to play a shot over mid-off to Ahmed Bakhshi (1) but was caught by Mujtaba Baqir. Manan Patel came in and started to hit some boundaries but was soon sent back by the lethal Fawad Agha (1). Manu Singh and Dhruv Patel started to built the innings by playing some excellent shots. Villa Park needed some more wickets to put the pressure back on Streamwood. Uzair Ali introduced Sohail Rehmani who right away gave the break through by claiming the wicket of Dhruv Patel. But that didn’t stop the runs Ashish Patel who was later bowled by Haris Imtiaz (1) and Sunny Sharma run-out by (Muhammad Ahmed) made sure that they take the score to a respectable target. Streamwood scored 175 runs with the lost of 7 wickets. Haris Imtiaz, Ahmad Bakshi, Fawad Agha, and Sohail Rehmani took 1 wicket each.

With the weather conditions getting worse minute by minute Villa Park opened their batting with the reliable Zeyad Imtiaz and energetic Mujtaba Baqir. With only 17 runs on the board Mujtaba Baqir (5) lost his wicket to Neil Satvedi (3). Sohail Rehmani and Zeyad Imtiaz started to built the innings but the cold weather didn’t let them settle, Zeyad was soon sent back by Samir Chaudhari (1). Haris Imtiaz (7) who is known for his excellent temperament and stylish shots was bowled by Neil Satvedi (3). This situation called for the ever reliable Fawad Agha (43) who played a outstanding of an innings when Villa Park was 28 for 3. Sohail Rehmani (14) was soon send back by Manan Patel (1), and at 38 for 4 things were looking dark and gloomy when the skipper Uzair Ali (29) walked in to support Fawad Agha. They both built the innings for the team with excellent shots for singles and double and a few exquisite boundaries. Just when things were going in Villa Park’s favor Neil claimed his third victim Fawad Agha. This brought little champ Hassan Bakhshi (26*) who was playing after a break of almost 2 month because of his finger injury. Hassan Bakhshi showed his intentions right away when he blasted a huge six and 2 fours. These boundaries came a little too late with the run rate over 12 runs per over. Uzair Ali was next to go when Villa Park needed only 30 runs. Arsalan Ali (2*) joined Hassan Bakhshi but by that time game was almost over. Villa Park made 159 for lost of 6 wicket and lost the semi final by only 16 runs.

It was a great battle against these two teams which was won by Streamwood in the end. Streamwood went on to become the 2009 champions. Villa Park would like to thank the ACC management and the member teams for the excellent year. See you all in 2010.