Birmingham Stars the winners of the Midlands T20 competition after a very close match against Staffordshire Wolves in the regional final, hosted Greater Manchester Falcons winners of the Northern section of the competition. The Falcons had won both of their regional T20 matches chasing with plenty of overs to spare.
So in the final when Hassan Ali won the toss and asked them to bat they faced a new challenge. With the late morning showers leaving the ground damp the decision to bowl meant that the Stars spent a lot of time with towels and shirts trying to keep the ball dry as the umpires were keen to enable the match to be played in full and so allowed play to continue during some drizzle that drifted over the ground after the start of play.
Despite the wet and slippery ball the Stars started with three tight overs and when Zyare Outerbridge was out caught & bowled by Mohammed Junaid they had just 11 on the board; their lowest opening stand of the competition. Who knows if it was being asked to set a target that meant they struggled from that point on to post any meaningful partnerships, the best was between Wasim Afridi and Mohammed Valli of 32 for the second wicket. When top scorer Wasim, 32, was bowled by Oliver Josephs and then Toseef Akhtar, 20, was caught by Hassan Ali as Oliver’s second wicket the score was 86 for 6 and no other batter reached double figures. Farhan Patel was left stranded on 4 not out as the Falcons experienced players could not even bat long enough to complete the 20 overs. Asif Ali was run out by Bashaaret Mohammad and Bilal Akhtar’s Primary Club credentials were confirmed when after softening him up with a wide he was bowled by Hassan Ali and the Stars had bowled 7 balls less than expected.
This did mean that any dozing were woken by the government alarm practice before tea, which was accompanied by positive and encouraging words about the game from both skippers.
As all seemed to think the boundaries were fairly short it seemed that a total of 127 would not be enough to force a win and certainly not without early wickets. The Falcons bowlers did a good job in restricting the runs that could be taken but had to wait for more than 8 overs before Zeb Khan nicked one to Toseef behind the stumps to give Bilal a wicket. 53 for 1 and then only 62 for 1 at drinks, although Bashaaret was looking in good form. He reached his 50 off 48 balls with seven boundaries before retiring with the score at 93 in the fourteenth over. A brief cameo from Hassan Ali was ended with the first of three run outs as the pressure mounted on the batting side towards the end of the innings. They needed just 13 from three overs as Toseef took the ball having conceded just 4 from the two overs he had bowled. Mohammed Shezad scored one and there were three extras so just under the required rate. Asif Ali bowled a good over but the pace on his deliveries meant that the one good connection got a boundary 4 through point; while on the last ball Jamie Carswell was run out but Shezad kept the strike and Toseef needed a three run over to win for the Falcons unless seven wickets could be taken. On his first ball Oliver Josephs was run out without facing and a four was needed. The next ball was driven through mid on and chased hard by Wasim but despite a desperate dive the ball crossed the rope.
With just 4 balls to spare the winners of the first ever BCEW Midland & North T20 cup were the Birmingham Stars.
Both teams were still winners in the season as the Falcons topped the BCEW northern Development league ahead of Lancashire Lions and Bradford & District. The Stars had been beaten to the midland league title by Staffordshire Wolves.
Following on from the thrilling finish in the Primary Club Cup Final on Saturday this game helps to show the strength of the game for the visually impaired in the UK. All must be looking forward to seeing what the 2026 season will have in store.