SACA REMITLY FESTIVAL – THE CRICKETER CROWNED 2026 CHAMPIONS
- Steven Fletcher
- 1 day ago
- 7 min read
The eagerly awaited 2026 SACA Remitly Festival got underway last week, played out across Wednesday and Thursday, as the best of SACA talent from across the country came together for its annual showpiece intra-squad tournament.
The build-up to the event was laden with challenges, as firstly the venue for the opening day of the two-day festival needed changing, when it was confirmed to us at short notice that the initial venue of Wanstead Cricket Club was in fact not available on the day in question!
Some hasty rallying and late manoeuvring saw Pickwick Cricket Club in Moseley secured as a replacement venue, and thankfully, day one went ahead as planned, albeit 160 miles to the north of its original planned setting.
And secondly, day two, which had to be cancelled last year due to biblical rain fall in Bristol, went ahead this year, although it proved to be equally as challenging for very different reasons, as an amber weather warning issued by the Met Office advised people to stay indoors as 38-degree heat engulfed the country – which doesn’t tend to help spectator numbers too much!
Day one constituted a round-robin format of three 5-ball T20 matches, with three SACA Men’s sides taking part, after their squads had been selected a fortnight ago at a special draft and auction night held fittingly at the Home of Cricket, Lord’s Cricket Ground.
The Three sides were each managed by a representative of a high-profile media owner who teamed up with two of SACA’s coaching staff, with Team ‘Wisden’ led by Cameron Ponsonby and SACA coaches Shozair Ali and Adeel Ali. Team ‘The Final Word’ was run by Yas Rana with SACA’s Dominic Ostler and Adeel Shafique, whilst Team ‘The Cricketer’ had Nick Friend at the helm alongside Owais Shah and Gemaal Hussein from SACA.
After the three T20 round-robin matches were concluded on day one, the side topping the table would earn a place straight in the Grand Final, being played the following day at Wormsley Cricket Ground, whilst the sides finishing in second and third place would have to compete in a 15 over eliminator the following morning, also at Wormsley, to determine the other finalists.
A round up of the two days, along with scorecards from all matches can be seen below….
DAY ONE – PICKWICK CRICKET CLUB
MEN’S ROUND-ROBIN GAME ONE – THE FINAL WORD v WISDEN
After The Final Word had won the toss and elected to stick Wisden into bat, Thilan Walallawita and Omar Akram got Wisden off to a flying start, putting on 54 for the opening wicket, with both then falling for scores of 22.
Jay Madan’s top score of 42, batting at three, scored from 32 balls, was Wisden’s top score of the innings, with good support coming from Adnaan Riaz, who hit 26 off 16, as they posted a competitive 161 for 6 in their 20 overs.
In reply, The Final Word were unable to recover from losing six wickets in the first nine overs, despite some late hitting from Cyrus Shafi getting them close.
Shafi top scored for the Final Word, with an unbeaten 53* off 32 balls, however with the next highest score being that of Zain Latif, with 20 off 13, they ultimately fell short in their chase, managing only 146 in reply, as Wisden secured the win in the opening clash of the Festival.
Pick of the bowlers from the opening game were Wisden’s Thilan Walallawita and Omar Akram, who took 3 for 23 off 4 overs and 3 for 16 off 3.2 overs respectively.
WISDEN WON BY 15 RUNS - SCORECARD
MEN’S ROUND-ROBIN GAME TWO – THE CRICKETER V WISDEN
The Cricketer won the toss and elected to bat, getting off to an absolute flyer, with Dylan Rawal smashing the ball to all parts.
Rawal and Aum Patel stuck on 59 for the opening wicket in just 4.4 overs, before Patel was out for 14, although Rawal kept going.
His knock of 66, from just 29 balls, was The Cricketer’s top score, with a free-flowing 35 off 24 also coming from Sinel Gunarathne, 23* off 15 from Ismail Mohammed, and 23 off 16 from Rahul Tangirala, as they posted a big total of 181 for 4 in their 20 overs.
In reply, Wisden again opened up with Akram and Walallawita again, and it was Akram who came out of the blocks flying, hitting a top score of 53 from 24 balls for his side.
Jay Madan was again in the runs in game two, hitting 31 off 23, although the Cricketer’s big total ultimately proved too much for Wisden as their run chase ran out of steam, finishing on 163 for 7, as the Cricketer secured a win in game two by the margin of 18 runs.
Viv Hassen’s 2 for 15 from 4 overs for The Cricketer were the standout bowling figures from game two.
THE CRICKETER WON BY 18 RUNS - SCORECARD
MEN’S ROND-ROBIN GAME THREE – THE CRICKETER V THE FINAL WORD
The final game of the day saw The Cricketer win the toss and elect to bat first, and they had Zaman Shafi to thank for posting a total of 160 for 5 in their 20 overs.
A disappointing start for The Cricketer saw each of the top four fall cheaply, before Shafi’s unbeaten 60 from 33 balls and Ismail Mohammed’s 36 from 27 mounted a recovery to give them a total to at least try and defend.
The Final Word’s reply started solidly, with Feroze Khushi and Zain Syed adding 52 for the first wicket.
At the halfway stage of the chase The Final Word has reached 68 for 2, needing 93 more runs from 50 balls to secure victory. They needed someone to go hard, and up stepped Cyrus Shafi.
Shafi measured the run chase to perfection, hitting an unbeaten 54* from 27 balls, taking The Final Word to victory with just one ball of the game to spare.
Despite fine figures of 5 for 22 from Viv Hassen, The Cricketer’s defeat meant that each of the three sides finished the day with one victory apiece, with net run rate calculations seeing Wisden make it straight into the final, with both The Final Word and The Cricketer needing to go head-to-head again in the eliminator to kickstart the second and final day of the Festival.
THE FINAL WORD WON BY 3 WICKETS - SCORECARD
DAY TWO – WORMSLEY CRICKET GROUND
MEN’S ELIMINATOR - THE CRICKETER V THE FINAL WORD
The Cricketer began day two by winning the toss and electing to bat and despite a poor start in which they lost 4 wickets in the opening six overs they recovered to post a commanding total.
Batting at five, Haaris Usman top scored for the Cricketer, hitting 60 from 31 balls, with Viv Hassen adding a quickfire 42* from just 22 balls.
Their efforts saw The Cricketer post a hefty score of 147 in their 15 overs.
In reply, The Final Word were never in it, as regular wickets fell throughout the chase.
A top score of 17 from Cyrus Shafi told the story, as The Final Word fell well short in their chase, managing only 94 for 8 in reply, as The Cricketer sealed their place in the final with a win by virtue of a comprehensive 54 run margin.
Gurbaj Singh’s 3 for 16 from his 3 overs were the standout figures in the match for The Cricketer.
THE CRICKETER WON BY 54 RUNS - SCORECARD
WOMEN’S T20 – SACA V HAMPSHIRE
The middle game of Finals Day saw SACA Women taking on Hampshire Women in a T20 clash and it was SACA who batted first.
The early loss of Fiza Asif-Iqbal and Sanya Kurana for single figure scores put Hampshire in the box seat, and they kept the pressure up with some tight bowling.
18 off 16 from Riva Pindoria, 16 off 19 from Regina Suddahazai, 13* off 17 from Nayma Sheikh, and 21* off 12 from Amarah Imran were the main contributions from SACA as they posted a total of 138 for 6 in their 20 overs.
In reply, Hampshire never looked in trouble in their reply, as the SACA bowlers toiled in the heat without reward.
An opening partnership of 92 was eventually broken in the twelfth over when Bhoomika Bhat broke through to dismiss Bristowe for 52, however that was to be the only success for the SACA bowlers.
Whybrow’s 43* off 27 and Sproul’s 17* off 14 saw their side to the win, securing a nine-wicket victory in the seventh over of the run chase.
HAMPSHIRE WOMEN WON BY 9 WICKETS
MEN’S FINAL - THE CRICKETER V WISDEN
The showpiece event of the Festival got underway at 4pm, with The Cricketer taking on Wisden in the Men’s Grand Final.
Winning the toss, the Cricketer elected to bat first, and again they had the big-hitting Dylan Rawal to thank for getting them off to a good start.
He top scored for The Cricketer, hitting 57 off 29 deliveries, with terrific support coming from both Haaris Usman, who hit 30 off 20, and Ismail Mohammed who smashed a rapid 27 off 13 balls to take their side to the second biggest total of the Festival – an impressive 173 for 7.
Chasing a big total, The Final Word struggled from the get go, and despite opener Omar Akram hitting 33 off 26, the next biggest contribution from the batters was 16 off 15 from Aum Raykar.
The Final Word fell well short in their chase, bowled out for 135, to seal victory for The Cricketer by the margin of 38 runs, with Gurbaj Singh the pick of The Cricketer’s bowlers, returning figures of 3 for 29 from his four overs.
It was a one-sided final that The Cricketer thoroughly deserved to win, and their run-scoring prowess over the two days, combined with a strong pace attack that delivered on all front, saw them deservedly crowned champions of the 2026 SACA Remitly Cup.
THE CRICKETER WON BY 38 RUNS - SCORECARD
The day concluded with The Cricketer’s skipper, Dylan Rawal, lifting the trophy, whilst also being named as the Player of the Final.
SACA would like to thank all our sponsors who supported the event and those who braved the high temperatures to come and support the Festival and making it such a memorable two-day event.
Comments