MORE than 400 people attended Yorkshire's first ever tapeball cricket tournament, which was held under floodlights in Keighley earlier this week.

Hosted at Marley Stadium in the town by Yorkshire Cricket Foundation, the event was a huge success and well received by the local community, with 13 teams and hundreds of cricketers taking part in the day/night tournament.

Shipley-based Azad CC reached the final but could not take home the title, falling to Pendle CC at the end of the night.

Tapeball cricket involves a tennis ball wrapped in electrical tape and is used in backyard cricket; it is massively popular in South Asian countries, where tennis balls are cheaper to get hold of and using them as opposed to proper cricket balls puts less strain on bowlers, means proper cricket bats aren’t always necessary, and reduces the risk of injury or damage to passers-by or surrounding buildings.

The addition of tape to the ball gives it added weight, speed and distance and additional tape can be used to mimic a seam.

The tournament was staged as a day/night tournament at the end of August, with 13 teams of eight players taking part, with fast paced four overs per side matches.

In the final, Azad posted 39 from their four overs, but Pendle passed the run total with five balls to spare.

Azad did however pick up the player of the tournament prize, which went to Hafiz Omar.

Yorkshire Cricket Foundation has thanked Naheem Malik, secretary of the Quaid e Azam Sunday Cricket League, and his team, who organised the day’s fixtures and also handled umpiring and scoring for every game.

Hafeez Rehman, treasurer of the Quaid e Azam Sunday Cricket League, said: “It’s amazing to see these types of cricket events happening in Bradford and Keighley.

“You can see from the people who have stayed in great numbers till 2am what it means to the community to have these types of events.

“We appreciate the support Yorkshire Cricket Foundation have provided in organising this and look forward to having more of these types of events.”

Zain Ul Abdin, the Community Development Officer for Bradford at the Yorkshire Cricket Foundation, added: “The tapeball tournament was a huge success due to the amount of teams entered and the spectators who turned up in great numbers to watch the games being played.

“This shows how much passion there is for tournaments like these in the Bradford community.

“I am looking forward to organising more of these tournaments and events and carry on the partnerships with local organisations to benefit the community.”

Yorkshire Cricket Foundation is now hoping to hold these tournaments on a more regular basis, with people from all walks of life invited to take part.

The Foundation is the charitable arm of Yorkshire County Cricket Club, and continues to work to improve levels of physical activity in the county.

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