Hurricane weather Storm to seal fine opening Wisden City Cup win

PROMISING local cricketers have been given the opportunity to begin a fast-track career to the professional game by taking part in the Wisden City Cup.

The Cup is being run by Bedfordshire Cricket Ltd, the local governing body for cricket in the county.

The tournament includes teams from Middlesex, Surrey, Leicestershire and Bedfordshire and the best player will be awarded a contract with the MCC Young Cricketers.

The Luton competition includes three teams – Storm, Hurricane and Lightning with all teams playing each other twice in Twenty20-style midweek matches.

The first match took place on Friday, June 29, at Luton Town & Indians’ cricket ground between Storm and Hurricane.

Storm won the toss and elected to bat, scoring 127-8 before Hurricane edged to victory at 128-8 in 19.3 overs to win by two wickets.

Hurricane’s left-arm spinner Umair Masoon won the man of the match award for his 1-18 and 17 not out.

Other outstanding performances came from Storm’s Akash Shah (33), Sanwal Illyas (22), Ammad Saeed (3-22), Kalim Khan (3-15) and Hurricane’s Hassa (22).

The next match between Hurricane and Lightning is on Friday, July 20, at the same venue.

One of the Luton teams will go forward to play the Leicestershire team in Leicester on Bank Holiday Monday, August 27.

The winners will play the Wisden Cup final at Grace Road, Leicester, on Sunday, September 16.

This game will be followed by a Wisden City Cup XI playing the MCC Young Cricketers, under the watchful eye of head coach Mark Alleyne.

David Mercer, director of cricket at Bedfordshire Cricket, said: “The Wisden City Cup is an initiative that aims to increase the popularity of cricket in inner-city communities.

“It is a great opportunity for the talent of Luton to show itself and to unearth more cricketers like Monty Panesar.”