A HIGHLY-successful Gulbar Ahmed Memorial Match at Park Avenue has raised an impressive £3,500 for the Yorkshire Cancer Centre.
A sizeable crowd turned up at Park Avenue to see the GulbarAhmed All Stars defeat a Bradford League XI by 26 runs in a Twenty/20 clash.
The event was organised by Gulbar's sons Raheel and Danyaal and their cousin, Moin Ashraf, and they are vowing to make the game an annual charity event.
Moin, who has just been released by Yorkshire after five years on the county staff. said: "It shows what my uncle, Gulbar, meant to people and how they respected him as a person.
"The event showed what the people in Bradford are capable of when it comes to giving to charity. It epitomises the effect of cricket in Bradford and how strong the cricket community in Bradford is.
"The event itself ran very smoothly, the cricket took care of itself and to say we only had 15 days to prepare for the event, we are pleased with our efforts. But as a team, I'd like to say that this is a start, we would like to make this an annual event, bigger and better next year."
The Gulbar All Stars included three current first class players, Northamptonshire paceman Muhammad Azhaullah and Durham's all-rounder Usman Arshad, and Worcester spinner Shaaiq Choudhry along with former Lancashire and Worcestershire player Kabir Ali.
The wicket had a green surface with a bit of moisture on top but was quite hard underneath so the All Stars captain Moin Ashraf opted to bat first.
Moin thought it would get harder to play as the day went on-try to make best use of it whilst the wicket was fresh, but his decision looked like backfiring when his team slipped to 19-3.
Raheel Ahmed (34), who hit four fours and one six, led the revival before Shaaiq Choudhry (30) and Usman Arshad (19) played well together sharing a stand of 48.The stand out bowlers for Bradford League XI were Zeeshan Qasim and Josh Wheatley.
The Bradford League XI made a great start putting on 41 for first wicket. Gharib Razzak with 16 the first to go, but. Adam Patel hit some lusty blows including two sixes in his 34 while Fahid Rehman played well for his 29.
The game changed when Kabir Ali, Azharullah and Arshad were introduced, all showing their experience with the ball and picking up wickets at regular intervals which meant Bradford League XI slumped from 83-3 to 102-8 after their 20 overs.
GULBAR ALL STARS
Batsmen How Out Score
Alex Stead b Z Qashim 12
Jonny Tattersall b I Arif 2
Raheel Ahmed c Stansfield b Wheatley 34
Mosun Hussain c I Dawood b Z Qasim 0
Jordan Thompson st I Dawood B G Ahmed 6
Usman Arshad c Stansfield b Patel 19
Shaaiq Choudhry b I Arif 30
Moin Ashraf st I Dawood b Patel 3
Kabir Ali not out 1
Danyaal Ahmed c Stansfield b Arif 2
Muhammad Azharullah Not out 5
Extras, Leg Byes 1, Wides 12, No Balls 1 14
Total 128
Bowling: Imran Arif 4-0-35-3, Zeeshan Qasim 3-0-11-2, Josh Wheatley 4-0-22-1, Gulsheraz Ahmed
4-0-27-1, Adam Patel 3-0-18-2 , Farakh Hussain 2-0-14-0.
BRADFORD LEAGUE XI
Gharib Razak Lbw S Choudhry 14
Adam Patel c R Ahmed b K Ali 34
Fahid Rehman c J Thompson b Arshad 29
Gulsheraz Ahmed c Azharullah b D Ahmed 1
Farakh Hussain b Azharullah 7
Ismail Dawood c & b Arshad 0
James Stansfield b AzharUllah 0
Imran Arif b Arshad 5
Zeeshan Qasim Not out 3
Josh Wheatley Not out 2
Jack Hartley DNB
Extras; Leg Byes 3, Wides 4 7
Total 102
Bowling: Shaaiq Choudhry 4-1-14-1, Muhammad Azharullah 3-0-9-2, Usman Arshad 4-0-23-3,
Moin Ashraf 1-0-8-0, Jordan Thompson 1-0-5-0, Danyaal Ahmed 3-0-26-1, Kabir Ali 4-0-14-1.
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