Wed, 09 Jul 2014
The Anthony Barker QC Memorial Shield, a cricket tournament, was held at Brislington CC, Bristol on Friday 20th June 2014 in aid of Avon and Bristol Law Centre and Marie Curie Cancer Care.
The tournament, organised by No5 Chambers, is a tribute to Mr Barker QC, a former Head of Chambers and Head of the Criminal Group, who sadly passed away in March 2012 after a long and brave battle against cancer.
The teams that competed were Morris Orman Hearle, Temple Bright, Lewis Nedas, Avon and Bristol Law Centre and No5 Chambers.
With blue skies and bright sunshine the perfect scene was set for an enthralling day of cricket. Each team would play 4 games on a round robin basis with the team finishing at the bottom of the league table failing to qualify for the semi finals. By lunchtime Lewis Nedas had caught the eye having won both their games including a nail biting encounter with the hosts No5 which went down to the final ball of the game. Scores were tied on 68 however Lewis Nedas took the points having lost losing fewer wickets.
ABLC had a mixed start in their opening games but looked handy with a couple of big hitters in their line up. Temple Bright were valiantly led by Richard Norwood who was playing with a broken finger and managed one win out of their four games. During the lunch interval Mike Henman, star player for MOH, arrived in a bid to rescue their fortunes with them having lost both their games. Unfortunately they slipped to their third defeat straight after lunch meaning they needed to win their last game against Lewis Nedas and hoped other results went their way to qualify for the semi finals. The MOH bowlers rose to the challenge and managed to defend 59 with Wallace, Henman and Roach only conceding 18 runs between them. MOH finished level on points with Temple Bright with both teams having won one game. At the top of the table Lewis Nedas and No5 were level on 9 points having both won three games. The organisers disappeared into a corner of the clubhouse to work out the run rates of each team to establish the semi finalists whilst the teams retired for afternoon tea or the more popular option of a cold beer (or two!) in the warm conditions. The calculations revealed Temple Bright had a superior run rate to MOH by 1.25 and would meet No5 in the first semi final with Lewis Nedas facing ABLC.
No5 chased down their target of 59 set by Temple Bright with relative ease. No5 skipper Turner led his side into the final with 25 not out and Hafeez smashed 16 not out off 3 balls to finish the game. Lewis Nedas seem to run out of steam during the latter stages of the competition having lost their last group game to MOH and then to ABLC in the second semi final. E Reilly had been their star performer throughout the day having a successful day with the bat but could not see his side into the final.
No5 won the toss and elected to bat first in the final against ABLC. Wain and Hafeez both retired upon reaching 25 which gave the innings a good base. The innings closed on an impressive 84 in 5 overs. ABLC needed to bat well and Abdullah gave them a flying start crashing 25 inside the first 2 overs. They managed to keep up with the required run rate in the next 2 overs and left themselves 15 to get off the final over. Nandra, retired on 25, had almost taken his side over the line however the remaining 9 runs off 3 balls proved too many as No5 held their nerve and came away winning by 6 runs.
Marie Langan, Vice Chair of Avon and Bristol Law Centre presented James Turner, No5 Chambers, with the Anthony Barker Memorial Shield 2014. A fantastic day was had by all in the glorious sunny conditions and the players headed to the clubhouse for well deserved refreshments. The cricket was competitive but played in the right spirit which is a credit to all those that participated. There was already talk about next year’s competition.
Thanks go to Brislington CC for their hospitality, the umpires, the teams, the individuals and businesses that donated prizes for the raffle, which helped to raise over £500 for Marie Curie Cancer Care and The Avon and Bristol Law Centre. Further donations can be accepted via No5's Virgin Money Giving Page or by contacting the No5 Marketing team - marketing@no5.com.
All eyes now turn to our next six a side event which is scheduled for 5th September 2014 at Moseley CC, Solihull. This will see 12 teams battle it out with the latter stages of the competition being played under floodlights.
