BAPS Charities organised a national outdoor Twenty20 cricket tournament on Saturday 30 August 2014 at Hainault Recreation Ground, London. Thirteen teams and more than 140 players from various communities across the UK participated in the event with the key objective to encourage all ages to integrate and play as a team.
The tournament began with the group stage matches. The top team in each of the four groups qualified for the main BAPS Twenty20 Trophy, while the runners-up of each group were given an opportunity to participate in the BAPS Twenty20 Plate competition.
After the group stages, the knockout phase provided further entertainment and excitement, beginning with the semi-finals.
In the BAPS Twenty20 Trophy, Harrow A restricted defending champions East London A to a modest total of 57 and chased down the score to comfortably progress to the final. In the other semi-final, South London A set Birmingham A a target of 96 to win. That proved too much as Birmingham could only reach 67 runs.
In the BAPS Twenty20 Plate competition, Leicester A defeated Harrow B and Indian Sevaks defeated Leicester B to deny an all-Leicester final.
The final of the BAPS Twenty20 Trophy brought together a much-changed South London A against the more experienced Harrow A. Having been put into bat first, South London A lost an early wicket which ensured the initial scoring was at a modest pace. However, some fine late hitting from Arpit Naik and Vishal Patel steered their team towards a competitive total and set a target of 83 runs for Harrow.
South London A then produced a very disciplined bowling and fielding performance lead by their captain Ambrish Patel, who bowled two very economical overs in the early stages to ensure Harrow A were always behind the required run rate. In the end, South London A won by a comfortable margin of 20 runs and claimed the trophy for the first time after two successive runner-up places.
In the ‘BAPS Twenty20 Plate’ tournament, Leicester A scored 76 and beat the India Sevaks team who managed only 65 to round off the day and the tournaments.
The popular event fostered an encouraging spirt of teamwork and provided another wonderful opportunity for some outdoor physical exercise with young and old from various parts of the country.
Exceptional individual performances were also rewarded, as follows:
BAPS Twenty20 Trophy
Best Batsman: Kalpesh Dangar (Harrow A)
Best Bowler: Darshan Patel (South London A)
BAPS Twenty20 Plate
Best Batsman: Viral Tailor (Leicester A)
Best Bowler: Akshay Thakar (Indian Sevaks)
