Newham College Cricket

Students see off Leyton Sixth Form

Students from Newham beat off three teams to become one of the South East’s best school and college 6-a-side cricket teams.

Newham College’s team beat Leyton Sixth Form College by 56 runs at the Inaugural London & Essex Indoor Cricket finals at Essex County’s club in Chelmsford.

Captain Mahatir Kaffurudeen said: “The lads did fantastic. It means a lot to us to represent the college against some of the best teams in London and now Essex too.”

Essex County Cricket Club organised the competition for the best four school or college teams in London and Essex.

It was based on their own league and a London 2012 host boroughs league set up by Newham College and University of East London (UEL).

Newham and Leyton competed in semi-finals with Essex colleges SEEVIC and Colchester, before going on to the final.

After the final, Newham’s fast bowler and business studies student Irfan Sahar, was invited by Essex to take part in trials.

Some of the Essex players, including England international Sajid Mahmood, stayed behind after their training to watch some of the action.

College study coach and team coach Zaheer Daleel said: “I’m very proud. I’m glad they’ve had the chance to visit a professional ground and meet international players and hope they all go on to join local cricket clubs.

“I’m ecstatic that a player has been invited back for trials.”

Newham College has offered cricket for two years using funding from the UEL and Essex County’s board. It has two training sessions per week and currently plays one competitive match every two or three weeks.

Newham College’s Sports Co-ordinator, Liana Mathurin-Brown added: “Cricket is one of the college’s priority sports and we’ll be developing what we do even further over the coming year.”

Squad: From left to right: Walid Sherzai, Irfan Sahar, Mujakkir Hussain, Sangeethman Uthayachandran, Mahatir Kaffurudeen, Mohammed Farhad, Fasil Fajarul.