World famous stars from international cricket shone brightly at the Road Runners Gatwick Charity Cricket Festival.
Playing in gorgeous weather, at the spacious Cherry Lane Playing Fields in Langley Green on Sunday, an array of household names including West Indian fast bowler Courtney Walsh and former Pakistan captain Inzamam Ul-Haq put on a thrilling show for celebrity club Lashings on the way to winning the six-a-side final.
It was an incredibly high standard, with various teams from Reigate and London contesting a generous £5,000 first prize were joined by India’s Wazim Jaffer, Zimbabwean Cephas Zhuwao, Middlesex and WI’s Coray Collymore plus the inventor of the ‘Doosra’ Pakistan’s Saqlain Mushtaq.
Not surprisingly, Lashings won the final by beating Trojans 93-63 in the six overs per side final.
Trojans were certainly no sloaches as Kuran bravely hit Walsh for a six and two fours in one over. They won £1,000 runners-up prize.
Inzamam showed he has lost none of his big hitting by scoring an unbeaten 48 which included eights fours and a six.
Cephas blasted four sixes and two fours in his 36 not out and went on to win the award for Player of the Tournament, having scored 96 in three innings.
A-Z Sports’ Mandip Sudi won the Best Batsman after scoring 133 in three matches, all of which were not out.
On the way to the final, Lashings beat Achievers and Toyota in their group before overcoming Surrey Kings 68-63 in the semi-final, with Inzamam hitting 39 and Ali Khan for the Kings getting 35.
Organiser Muzaffer ‘Muzzy’ Hussain, director of Road Runners Taxis said: “We had a good tournament and saw lots of famous faces. We definitely want to do it again and hopefully in the future it will be bigger and bigger. It’s all about charity and this year we have made over £2,000 for St Catherine’s Hospice.”
Crawley’s sole representatives in the tournament were Ram who suffered defeats in both their group games.
Crawley’s mayor, Bob Burgess gave out the prizes whic which were not confined to the cricket as there was also a Toyota Aygo won by a lucky ticket holder in the raffle.