Cockspur London Floodlit 6s
Carnival Cricket Returns to the Rectory - 2005
Friday 5th August saw a host of international, county and club cricketers from all around the country swarm to the Rectory Field, Blackheath for the Club's Greene King London Floodlit Sixes. The day was a huge success with over 200 people witnessing some superb cricket and some big hitting.
The competition consisted of two groups of four teams: Group A - Kent U23s (last year's Winners), Blackheath (hosts), Leicester Kibworth (last year's Cockspur National Knock-out Winners) and Liverpool Comp (Liverpool league rep side) and Group B - Asian U21s, Old Hill (Birmingham league side), Club Cricket Conference (Club cricketer's rep side) and BWIA (5 times London Floodlit Sixes Winners).
Co-Tournament Director Mark Calnan said, "A lot of hard work goes into organising a competition of this magnitude and we were delighted with the day. We had concerns about the weather early on, but the rain cleared in the afternoon - the sun always shines on the Rectory when it matters! The fact that three sides were willing to travel over 200 miles to play is testament to the quality of the competition."
Club Chairman Jon Taylor commented on the growth the Club's currently enjoying, "The Club is experiencing exponential growth at the moment - we have over 100 playing members and boast seven teams on a Saturday, not many other Clubs in the whole country are able to do that. A Club our size needs a day in the cricketing calendar that stands out and the Floodlit Sixes ticks that box - it's great entertainment for the members."
Fellow Tournament Director Omar Khan added, "As proven by the success of day night and 20/20 cricket, floodlights provide a unique atmosphere that can't be replicated. Due to the other sports that are played at the Rectory Field, we are lucky enough to be able to use them and the latter stages of the competition were even more exciting as a result."
Last year's Cockspur National Knock-out Champions Leicester Kibworth certainly enjoyed the day, despite losing in the semi finals. Captain Mike Sutliff commented, " We've been involved in some exciting days of cricket in the past 12 months, most notably winning the National KO Competition at Lords last season. However, Friday's competition was equally exciting and the atmosphere was sensational. We were privileged to be invited to compete and we hope to be back next year - it was certainly worth the long journey south!"
The final was a fiercely contested game between the Asian U21s and Old Hill. Tempers flared in the heat of competition and the crowd were very vocal as both sides got involved in some serious gamesmanship. The competition ended in fairy tale fashion with Old Hill requiring 3 runs off the last ball and the atmosphere was electric with the Asian U23s support in fantastic voice. Old Hill only managed to scamper a single and the Asian U23s were crowned the 2005 Greene King London Floodlit Sixes Champions. Cue pandemonium as the Asian following invaded the pitch and celebrated in style.
2004
Friday 6th August, 2004, saw the Annual London Floodlit 6-a-side competition at the Rectory Field, Blackheath, with each of the 3 BCC representatives, the Asian U-19s (inc. Barry Lee, Warren Lee, Hussnan Nadir, Junaid Ahmed and Abid 'The Pornstar' Ahmed), Kent U-23s (inc. Mark Calnan and Gareth Honor) and the hosts, BCC themselves (Peter Dean, Hadleigh Luff, Dwayne Petley, Rupert Staple, Lyndon Williams and Darryl Carter), quietly confident of progressing through the competition. Umpires for the day, Omar Khan (tournament co-ordinator) and Paul Frith (tournament adjudicator), who were later ably supported by Chris Swadkin, got the proceedings underway and as ever, the weather was fit for the occasion as the sun shone brightly at 11.00 when Blackheath CC, led by Peter Dean, took the field to face the Asian U-19s. BCC set the tone for the day with some explosive batting from Dwayne Petley and Daryll Carter, the former taking just the first six balls of the competition to reach 25. The pair led BCC to an impressive target of 68 which was just too much for the Asian U-19s, despite good efforts from Barry Lee and Alex Senn with the bat.
The 2nd game saw the CCC square up against the under-performers of recent years, the Kent U-23s. Kent batted first and, thanks to intelligent batting from James Lincoln and Damon Gariff, set a target of 75, which proved to be out of the reach of the Conference who struggled to 68, despite taking 22 off the first over from Surrey CCC 2nd XI star Phil Eaglestone.
The following game saw favourites BWIA face a very strong Radlett outfit. After failing to successfully leave SE3 with the cup in either of the past two years, the 'Smashers' from BWIA arrived with a large squad of pros and ex-pros who they were confident would be sufficient to be victorious this time around. They eased past Radlett by 25 runs with current Worcestershire CCC 20/20 star, David Taylor, proving particularly effective with the bat.
A convincing win by Kent U-23s followed thanks to excellent batting once more by James Lincoln, Damon Gariff and Mark Calnan, against this year's whipping boys Formby CC who were led by the brother of TNO/Club Sec/Calamity, Stuart Reading. A comfortable victory by Blackheath against Radlett ensued before the Asian U-19s faced BWIA knowing that defeat would almost certainly signal an early exit from the competition. Despite a valiant effort from the U-19s, BWIA came out on top, but not before Hussnan Nadir and Barry Lee showed excellent ability with the bat. CCC subsequently dealt with scouser's Formby, whose form in the Village on Thursday night was always destined to be more impressive than their form on the pitch on Friday.
Radlett saw off the Asian U-19s, booking their place in the much coveted 5/6th place play off, before BWIA faced Blackheath to establish who would avoid facing Kent U-23s in the semi-finals. BWIA were victorious and as such, after Formby claimed 5th place by defeating Radlett, they faced CCC in the 1st semi-final. Unsurprisingly, the well-supported BWIA strolled past CCC and Frank David and Co. vocally awaited the outcome of the 2nd semi-final between Blackheath and the Kent U-23s.
Kent won the toss and elected to bat. Thanks to more sensible batting by James Lincoln, well supported by Mark Calnan, Kent set a substantial target of 73. Despite good efforts from Hadleigh Luff and Dwayne Petley, the hosts fell 10 runs short of their target, setting up a showpiece final between BWIA and the Kent U-23s.
At this stage the light was diminishing and the players were quickly becoming dependent on the six floodlights surrounding the pitch. Kent U-23s again won the toss and again elected to bat. James Lincoln, who was later awarded Man of the Tournament for carrying his bat in each of Kent's four games, was once more the mainstay of the innings, and he was supported well by each of the Kent batsman. Kent reached a target of 85 which clearly had the favourites ruffled, and despite BWIA's excellent form, it was always going to be a tough target to overcome. Some disciplined bowling and fielding by the well drilled Kent outfit silenced the Smashers by restricting them to just 65. The presentation, conducted by tournament supremo Omar Khan, drew the competition to a fitting conclusion, with the Kent U-23s being crowned deserved winners of the 2004 Cockspur London Floodlit 6-a-side Competition. Commiserations must go to the valiant losing finalists BWIA, whom we look forward to welcoming back next year, stronger and hungrier than ever.
Photo Page Floodlit 6-a-side Tournament - 2004
Special thanks must go to Cockspur, our generous sponsors for the day, who provided the winners with the ammunition for a fearsome weekend of excess and Berkmann Wine Cellars, (www.berkmann.co.uk) who supported the day as usual by providing excellent wines to compliment the outstanding lunch and tea provided for by the ever-present Aunties. Finally, once more the organisational abilities of Omar Khan, ably assisted by Paul Frith, must be acknowledged for arranging an ever-improving competition, which consistently raises the profile of Blackheath Cricket Club, and is fast becoming the premier 6-a-side competition in the area.