England clinched the first edition of the ICRC International T20 Cricket Tournament for people with physical disabilities beating Pakistan by 19 runs in the final at Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Pratishthan (BKSP) ground-3 in Savar on Thursday. Winning the toss in the five-nation final battle, England elected to bat first and posted a formidable total of 175 for 4 in 20 overs which is the highest in the tournament, spurred by the opening pair for 70 runs in 8.5 overs between Alex Hammond and Gordon Laidwan. Callum Flynn hammered an unbeaten 45 runs off 29 balls featuring eight fours to be the highest scorer for the side. Gordon Laidwan hit 40 off 28 balls with six fours while Alex Hammond scored 30 off 28 balls with three fours. Number six batsman Jordan Williams played till the innings end to score not out 15 off 8 balls with a six while Jamie Goodwin (18 off 13b, 1×4) and Iain Nairn (10 off 11b, 1×4) were the other scorers for the side. Jahanzaib, Abdullah Ejaz and Fayaz Ahmed took one wicket each for 21, 22 and 43 runs respectively. Chasing the 176-run target for win, Pakistan played out a 156-run innings for 7 in 20 overs with Rehan Gani scoring the team highest 36 runs off 25 balls with one four and one six. Opener Hasnain Alam and Nihar Alam scored 26 runs each while Abdullah Ejaz (18), Matloob Qurashi (15), Danish Ahmed (11) and Abdullah Afridi (not out 10) were the other double digit scorers for the side. Fred Bridges grabbed four wickets for 24 runs in his 4-over spell and was adjudged man of the match. Dan Reynaldo and Dan Hamm took one wicket each for 23 and 32 runs respectively. Earlier, on the way to final, England lost to Bangladesh by 14 runs in the inaugural match of the meet, tasted the first victory against India by 23 runs then beat Pakistan by 8 runs and Afghanistan by 3 runs. On the other hand, Pakistan beat their arch-rival India by 43 runs in the 4th match, started their campaign with a massive 8-wicket victory against Afghanistan, beat Bangladesh by 20 runs in the second match while conceded an 8-run defeat against England in the third match. Host Bangladesh ended their campaign securing the 3rd slot involving two wins and two losses. India and Afghanistan finished 4th and 5th position respectively, tasted one win each. International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) organised the first edition international cricket tournament for the physically challenged people, first of its kind, with the co-operation of the Youth and Sports Ministry, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and BKSP aiming to the social inclusion of people with physical disabilities through sports participation, besides ICRC’s other esteemed.
