ACADEMY STUN WALTHAM AND TAKE AWAY THEIR PERFECT RECORD

The Spanish Academy XI arguably saved their best performance until last in the Lady Taverners tournament by beating the winners of the event Waltham CC, and thus preventing the British club going unbeaten through the whole of the competition.

Winning the toss, Spain decided to bat first and set off at a blistering pace with openers Armaghan Khan and Yasir Ali focused from the off. 59 was on the board in no time at all when the Spaniards lost their first wicket as Yasir was bowled by Syed Kazmi for 16.

Christian Munoz-Mills joined Armaghan at the crease and between them they put on 105 in ten overs to put the hosts in a commanding position. Armaghan was finally run out for 105, which included five fours and seven sixes at a cost of just 44 balls.

Munoz quickly followed in the same over, also run out for a fine 36 and as the rest of the Spanish batsmen looked to add quick runs wickets fell at regular intervals. The Academy were finally all out one ball shy of their full allocation of overs for 193.

Waltham started off purposefully intent on keeping their 100% record intact. Tanweer Sikander and Ahmed Khawaja seemed to be taking the game away from the Spaniards with a fantastic opening partnership that was finally broken with the score on 130.

Enter leg spinner Gary Crompton as the skipper Tanveer Iqbal made an inspired bowling change in an attempt to stem the flow of runs. The Sporting Alfas all-rounder has not bowled for Spain for twelve months and this was the first time he had been thrown the ball during the Taverners tournament.

The decision paid dividends as he got a wicket was his fifth ball and then went onto get out the key men Ahmed Khawaja (98) and former Pakistani international Atta Ur Rehman for just 9. Like the team, he saved his best until last, taking four wickets in five balls of his final over, to end with the fantastic figures of 7-26 and give the Academy a 12 run victory.

The win was a testament to the spirit, enthusiasm and fight the team had shown all weekend, leaving everyone involved with Spanish cricket on a high and looking forward to more days like these.

To cap off a fine weekend Armaghan Khan was awarded the batsmen of the tournament at the gala dinner. For the record, Waltham went onto easily beat the Mike Gatting legends in the showpiece match. The Legends include Andy Caddick, Steve Kirby, Sam Billings, Neil Radford, Gus Mackay and New Zealand international Hamish Marshall.

The Spanish National Coach Bobby Denning will now set out a plan of action along with the Director of cricket for next season with the emphasis continuing to be on Junior Development and experimental squads for the foreseeable future.