Hayes and DASH to Lord's for Hit the Top

Feb 25, 2011

WRITTEN BY TAZ VIRDEE

On the 22nd February (2011) Hayes & DASH Cricket club visited the home of cricket and the world’s oldest sporting museum – Lord’s. After nearly a year since our team was formed, this was the first time we had competed in a competition.

Bright and early the four musketeers (Adam O’Sullivan, Daryl Ashcroft, Lloyd Bruno and Sarge) arrived at our home base, Hayes Cricket Club. This is where our team met with Navjeet Sira from Cricket for Change on the team bus; she offered great advice to our players and like us was raring to go!

Above picture - the Middlesex team of Adam O’Sullivan, Daryl Ashcroft, Lloyd Bruno and Sarge

After sweeping past the A40, we were the first team to arrive at Lord’s that morning and we took the opportunity to explore the wonders of Lord’s. We were lucky to have a tour guide (our bus driver Paul – who used to work at Lord’s!).

The beautiful stadium and the glorious history merged into one. Portfolios of England greats such as Sir Aubrey Smith, Sir Leonard Hutton, Sir Ian Botham and Andrew Flintoff echoed throughout the stadium.

We were here to represent the pink and blue jersey of Middlesex.

It would be the first time that Middlesex had a PAN disability team competing in this competition. Before the competition started, we met with our coach Alex Bassan (of Cricket for Change) who provided us with last minute training advice. Our players were grateful to Alex for helping them develop within the last year and they were eager to show Alex and more importantly themselves what they were capable of achieving as a team. Our first match was against the organised Sussex team, it was a tough battle, and we came from 26 runs downs to win by 2 runs. The players fought hard and were rewarded by belief and determination.

We faced Kent in our second match, it was our best match of the day, winning by an incredible 82 runs! Outstanding partnership work from Daryl and Sarge and brilliant bowling from Lloyd and Adam sealed a great victory for DASH.

Our third match was up against the favourites Essex, after two previous wins our players didn’t get enough runs and eventually lost by 1 run in a hard fought contest. Despite suffering our first defeat of the day, the players were optimistic and we got together to keep the spirit high and motivated ourselves for the last game, where we were matched against a resilient Surrey side. It was a performance that proved teamwork and communication will equal to success and DASH ran out as winners.

The County Cup tournament ended with three wins and one defeat, but the tournament was decided on runs.

Hayes & DASH finished third, a total combination of 130 runs. It was a fantastic effort from the players. After Sussex was crowned winners of the tournament, the next prize was Player of the Day. Hayes & DASH’s player Daryl Ashcroft took the honour winning Player of the Day, his brilliant teamwork, vision and the ability to motivate his team mates convinced the panel of Daryl’s ability and deservingly won the prize.

Hayes & DASH Cricket Club would like thank Cricket for Change especially the fantastic work from coaches Alex Bassan, Adam Hall and Navjeet Sira. Without their support we wouldn’t have the opportunity to be involved in this competition. Representing Middlesex was a memorable experience for the team, something we would like to do more in future competitions. 

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