APART from a first game of the season hitch, Al Badr are living up to their name.

For The Undefeated have remained so ever since then and are bang on course to win the league and promotion in their very first season - thanks to spin wizard Irfan Mirza who took a magnificent six wickets.

Burnley Grammar School Old Boys on the other hand weren't helped by not being able to field a full team but they later found they had a new recruit called Extras who turned out to be their top scorer!

In fact, at one stage the Old Boys had 26 runs on the board and only three of them had come from their batsmen!

But despite the wayward bowling, the Old Boys were up against a team who look more than capable of holding their own in the top flight.

For Al Badr showed strength in depth in the batting order and in Mirza had a demon spin bowler the Old Boys could just not get to grips with.

However the Old Boys should not feel down-hearted as Al Basr's leading wicket taker has caused havoc with batsman all season - and this was his third time he had recorded five wickets or more.

Each one of Mirza's victims traipsed off after being outwitted at the crease muttering 'Now he is good'. Nasir Ilyas and Wasim Ghulzar started steadily enough for Al Badr but found the Old Boys own spinner Steve Ellis in fine form.

However it was fast bowler Anthony Nutter who made the initial breakthrough when he cleaned bowled Gulzar for nine.

It was just what his team-mates ordered for as they walked onto the pitch one said: "Remember, bowl them out because we can't catch!" That was underlined when Keiron Higginson athletically dived through the air only to flap at fresh air - much to the amusement of his team-mates.

But Ellis then obliged when he took the wicket of Ilyas for 13 and then promptly trapped Fasil Pahseel leg before wicket with his very next ball.

Fears of a mini collapse in the Al Badr camp were alleviated when they moved from 27-3 to 50-4 before Mirza was Ellis's third victim for seven.

But it was the partnership of Ifthikar Ahmed and captain Waheed that gave Al Badr the foundation for victory with Waheed hitting a match-winning 38. Ahmed deserved more than his 27 runs as he batted sensibly throughout before becoming Nutter's second victim.

And Asif Ali made Al Badr's total look even more formidable when he hit a quick-fire 25 which included six fours - obviously a man who is not too keen on running.

If Ali was not keen on running, then Old Boys opener John Roberts appeared to be not too keen on making runs. For he survived the first eight overs without getting off the mark before being bowled by Ali by a ball he admitted he jumped to get out of the way of! Bentley battled on for three more overs before being bowled by Ilyas for nine. Higginson came to the crease threatening to hit everything and can feel pleased with his rapid 13 which turned out to be Old Boy's top score before he became Mirza's first victim.

When Jamie Baldwin, Nutter and Blakey all went cheaply to Mirza for a combined total of nine runs it was left to old heads Ellis and captain Steve Duxbury to try and salvage something out of the game.

But after Ellis's stubborn resistance finally cracked, when he was bowled for 11 by that man Mirza, the Old Boys hopes had disappeared but not their humour for Higginson joked that Mirza had just about pipped him for the man of the match award.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.