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Collingham & District captain Burhan Alam on ending run of six straight defeats ahead of playing Nottinghamshire Premier League leaders Cavaliers & Carrington




Collingham & District CC face their biggest challenge of the season to date after ending their losing streak.

Burhan Alam’s side halted a run of six successive defeats in the Nottinghamshire Premier League with last weekend’s eight-run Duckworth-Lewis victory over Notts & Arnold.

Collingham captain Burhan Alam admits playing Nottinghamshire Premier League cricket this summer is a massive learning curve. Picture: Dave Dawson
Collingham captain Burhan Alam admits playing Nottinghamshire Premier League cricket this summer is a massive learning curve. Picture: Dave Dawson

It gives them a welcome confidence boost going into this Saturday’s trip to league leaders Cavaliers & Carrington, who boast a 100 per cent record from nine matches.

Alam, who made 52 and took 2-35 in the win over Notts & Arnold, said: “That’s always going to be a tough game.

“They haven’t lost this year so for us it’s one of those where I’ve said to the lads it’s kind of a free hit.

“You’re going in as underdogs, you’ve just got to play with freedom and cricket’s a funny game, you never know.

“We’re going in pretty strong, we take the positives from last weekend and we’ll give it a go and see what happens. We can go into it with confidence.”

Collingham made a bright start to the campaign following promotion as Division 2 champions but knew they would hit bumps in the road given the step up in standard.

They put a third win of the season on the board after making 177-7 in a rain-affected game against Notts & Arnold.

Burhan’s half-century included six fours and a six, while Jamal Anwar contributed a useful 37.

The visitors were set a revised target of 187 after the match was reduced to 42 overs a side from 50, but fell short on 178-5.

It was a welcome victory after a challenging spell.

“We kept the run-rate low, bowled well and picked up wickets at crucial times,” said Alam. “It was a really good effort.

“I think we’ve been a bit unlucky this season. Going into the season we always knew it was going to be tough, we were going to come up against good teams.

“However, I think during that period, I said to the boys you’ve just got to stick in and good results will come.

“We’ve been playing some good cricket and I think we were waiting for a complete performance with bat and ball.

“It was nice to get over the line to give us a confidence booster going forward and I think we can take a lot of positives for the remaining fixtures.

“We knew it was going to be tough and we were always going to have periods where results weren’t going to go our way.

“However, with such a young team, it was just important we all stick together and have confidence that eventually results will come.”

Alam captained Collingham to the Division 2 title last season.

He’s had to think on his feet to keep Collingham competitive at the higher level.

Alam, whose side are 10th, 10 points clear of the bottom two, said: “I think this year you have different challenges.

“In the Prem, the difference in standard is quite high, so you come across a lot of good players, good pros, so it’s just the tactics have to be slightly different from lower divisions.

“It’s not as easy as making some bowling changes and it works, you have teams that bat from No.1 down to even 9, 10, 11.

“It’s challenging but it’s just learning and adapting.

“We’ve got a lot of young players and the more exposure they get to a good standard of cricket, that’s only going to improve them.

“We said before the season it would be a massive learning curve, a lot of the players will learn stuff about themselves and how to play the game at this kind of level.

“To play Premier League cricket you’ve got to be quite tough mentally, you’re always going to have good games and bad games, so it’s just staying level-headed throughout the year, keeping grounded when you do well and if you have setbacks not getting too down.

“I think the lads are adapting well, they’re learning every game and that’s only going to improve.”



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