Ufford Park’s unbeaten record in the Hunts Indoor League has gone up in smoke after being slaughtered by Ak11 in the latest round of matches. 2023/2024 champions Ufford Park had started the season well with 3 straight wins and had been the only unbeaten team in the league, but they suffered badly in a crushing 5 wicket defeat to defending champions AK11. AK had been on a long unbeaten indoor run and had not tasted defeat for 2 years until losing in the last round of matches to Werrington, but they got back to winning ways with a clinical performance with some excellent fielding, batting and bowling. Ufford batted first and were soon in early trouble at 23-3 from just 3 overs. A small recovery happened led by Muhammad Raheel who hit 3 fours and 3 sixes in his 46, but only one other batsman made double figures as Ufford were bowled out for 88 with 1 ball remaining. Seamers Sudheer Jafeer (2-16) and Zeeshan Ul Haq Makhdoom (2-19) did the bulk of the damage with one of Jafeer’s victims being brilliantly caught and bowled. Superb fieldsman Sufyan Mazhar was also in the thick of the action with a catch and a direct hit run out.
Chasing 89 to go top, Ak slipped to 6-1 from the first over due to a good catch at 3rd man by Usman Sadiq, but that was the only alarm for AK as Zaheer Abbas and Sudheer Jafeer both retired with 28 and 25 runs respectively and a quickfire unbeaten 21 from Zeeshan Ul Haq Makhdoom saw Ak win with 26 balls remaining.
Pak Azad and Werrington also recorded their 3rd win of the season with dominant batting performances. Sam Tyler (31 not out), Muhammad Ayub Khattak and Ali Zeb (both retired on 26 and 25 respectively) saw Pak Azad score an imposing 149-2 from their 10 overs against Hampton. This proved to be 68 too many for Hampton once Abdul Waris (3-12) got to work, despite a defiant 23 from Aurangzaib Tahir.
Werrington’s 3rd win of the season saw all their top order score heavily in a high scoring match against Burghley Park. In Indoor Cricket you must retire when you score 25 runs (or your last scoring shot goes past 25) and Werrington Captain Muhammad Toseeq led from the front to reach his retirement in 6 deliveries which set the tone for the rest of the innings with Werrington’s 50 arriving from just 11 deliveries! Three of his teammates quickly joined him back retired and all of them returned to help Werrington to an imposing 178-4 from their 10 overs. Werrington wicketkeeper batsman Shaz Akhter top scored finishing unbeaten on 49, with Toseeq (37), Mudassar Shafiq (30) and Junaid Hussain (30) also performing well. Burghley kept going to the end with David Platt taking two wickets and wicket keeper Matt Davies executing a stumping and a smart run out. Chasing 179 to win Platt and Davies got the innings off to a flyer and both retired, with Simon Sherwin also quickly joining them, but despite Platt and Davies returning and finishing unbeaten on 48 and 34 respectively Burghley fell 46 runs adrift.
10 times Hunts Indoor League winners Bretton are off the mark at the 4th time of asking beating Wansford by 3 wickets. Wansford’s 122-4 was built around an unbeaten 32 from Kester Sainsbury and 22 from talented teenager Rudra Valambhia, but Bretton breezed to victory with 12 balls remaining with Captain Andy Bennett seeing his team home with an unbeaten 32.
This weekend sees the last cricket matches in Peterborough and Huntingdonshire for 2025 with the top 4 all playing against each other. Currently the top 4 all have 9 points (3 wins from 4 matches) and are separated on head-to-head wins against each other, and opposition wickets taken. This weekend will see leaders AK11 play Pak Azad and Werrington play Ufford Park. Wansford will also play Hampton and Burghley Park and Bretton have the privilege of playing the last local game of cricket in 2025.
Week 4 Results – Sunday 7th December
1st match – Pak Azad beat Hampton by 68 runs.
Pak Azad 149-2 from 10 overs. Sam Tyler 31 not out, Muhammad Ayub Khattak 26 – Retired (2x4), Ali Zeb 25 – Retired (1x6), Haroon Bashir 19 not out (1x6), Bash Hussain 15 (1x4).
Hampton 81 all out from 8.2 overs. Aurangzaib Tahir 23, Ali Ghazanfar 15. Abdul Waris 3-12.
2nd match – AK11 beat Ufford Park by 5 wickets.
Ufford Park 88 all out from 9.5 overs. Muhammad Raheel 46 (3x6 and 3x4). Sudheer Jafeer 2-16, Zeeshan Ul Haq Makhdoom 2-19.
AK11 89-1 from 5.4 overs. Zaheer Abbas 28 – Retired (1x6), Sudheer Jafeer 25 – Retired (2x4), Zeeshan Ul Haq Makhdoom 21 not out (2x6 and 2x4).
3rd match – Werrington beat Burghley Park by 46 runs.
Werrington 178-4 from 10 overs. Shehzad Akhter 49 not out (2x6 and 4x4), Muhammad Toseeq 37 (5x6 and 1x4), Mudassar Shafiq 30 (1x6 and 1x4), Junaid Hussain 30 not out (4x6). David Platt 2-38
Burghley Park 132-3 from 10 overs. David Platt 48 not out (2x4), Matt Davies 34 not out (1x4), Simon Sherwin 25 – Retired (1x6 and 3x4).
4th match - Bretton beat Wansford by 3 wickets.
Wansford 122-4 from 10 overs. Kester Sainsbury 32 not out (1x6), Rudra Valambhia 22 (1x4)
Bretton 123-3 from 8 overs. Tom Sanderson 32 not out (2x6 and 2x4), Andrew Bennett 25 – Retired (1x4).
FIXTURES WEEK 4 – SUNDAY 14TH DECEMBER 2025:
- 2.30pm – AK11 v Pak Azad
- 3.30pm – Hampton v Wansford
- 4.30pm - Werrington v Ufford Park
- 5.30pm - Burghley Park v Bretton
The league table can be found on Play Cricket here
NOTE:
- 3 points for a win.
- Pak Azad ahead of Werrington on head-to-head win.
- Werrington ahead of Ufford Park on the amount of opposition wickets taken.
