Trustworthy Knights v Radiant Stars

The KCL was back up and running after the Jalsa break with a big contest scheduled at Alexandra Park between the Trustworthy Knights and the Radiant Stars. The Knights won the toss and elected to insert the Stars into the field with the weather scorching close to 30 degrees in the UK summer heat!

Not the kind of start the Knights would have wanted though having opted to bat first, with Tehseen Ahmed opening the bowling and picking up the early scalps of openers Faizan and Imran Qaiser with the score at 15-2 in 3 overs. Harawal tried to ensure another wicket didn’t fall in the powerplay, whilst Fawad decided to let loose and cash in on any opportunity that presented itself. Another big breakthrough came post powerplay when Harawal fell cheaply to the spin of Yasir Ahmed and leaving the Knights in a massive spot of bother with the score at 48-3.

Captain Waseem Ahmed has been in some of his best form this season, and once again his form proved vital with an excellent guiding role for his side with the bat. Although he couldn’t find a partner for a sustained amount of time, the small partnerships he did have during his 54 runs innings (off 31 balls) ensured that he guided his team to a defendable total of 161 in their 20 overs.

Needing 8 runs per over from the start, another man who has been in splendid form is Tehseen who has clearly turned a page in his batting this season as an opener, a role he is making his own! Having watched the senior gun Daud singlehandedly taking control of the powerplay and blasting his side to 50-0 in 4.3 overs (45 runs scored by Daud of 25 balls), Tehseen then took over from where Daud had left off and continued to hammer away at the target. Small consolidator roles were played by captain Salman Jajja and Farukh Tahir, whilst Tehseen did most of the heavy lifting in his 60* off 38 balls to reach the total with a ball to spare. A comprehensive win for the Stars.

Leading the charge from ball one with the ball and then with the bat, the KCL 2024 so far has been the ‘Tehseen show’, and we are all mere spectators witnessing him grow as a cricketer. The Knights are now at that point where they cannot afford to lose another match having lost 4 of their 5 games this season, and will definitely require nrr to somehow keep them afloat. The Stars on the other hand might finally start to believe that this could be the season where they finally break the voodoo of not being able to qualify for the play offs; they have the youth and the quality of experience to make it happen for them!