Season 2026 Awards Night: celebrating a season to be proud of

Sep 27

2 min read

MOP Cricket Club, Vught | 27 September 2026

On Sunday, MOP Cricket Club closed the 2026 season with our annual awards night. Players, families, youth members and friends of the club came together at the clubhouse for an afternoon of cricket, speeches, trophies and plenty of laughter.

Kids beat the parents (again!)

The day started with our traditional Parents vs Kids match. The parents gave it everything, but the youngsters held their nerve and won by 7 runs. Well played, kids! Parents, we'll see you for a rematch next year.

A look back at 2026

In his end-of-season speech, chairman Vinod Gopani looked back on a year full of highlights:

Youth: our U15 combination team finished 2nd in their poule, with seven wins from ten. Our U13 and U11 teams played full seasons and grew with every match.
1st XI (Derde Klasse): a strong finish to the season, with doubles over Hercules and Quick 1888 and a 47-run win over Arnhem.
2nd XI (Vierde Klasse): real fighting spirit, with five of their six wins coming in run chases. Many weekends they took the field with fewer than eleven players. A big thank-you to captains Shiva and Salman and match secretary Satish for keeping our teams on the field every week.
Top performers: Imran Ahmed (37 wickets across both teams), Shiva Samkaria (two centuries), Craig Stevens (18 catches, the most in the Derde Klasse), plus great contributions from Pichai Karthikeyan, Ahmad Sajeel, Wajid Ali and Aziz Khogiani.
Women's cricket is growing: congratulations to Chrissie van der Velden (Young Sport Impact Maker 2026) and Carine de Rouw (Female Volunteer 2026). Both also play for the Brabant women's team, and new players from Tilburg are joining us for winter training.
Off the field: our Women's T20 World Cup watch party finished third in the whole of the Netherlands, and MOP now has a seat on a national KNCB committee working on the development of Dutch cricket.

The 2026 club trophies

As is tradition, three historic club trophies were presented:

Prim Birbal Cup, Most Valuable Player (since 1977): Imran Ahmed

A standout season with ball in hand. Imran took more wickets than anyone at the club, across both senior teams.

Ir. E. Vollers Cup, Biggest Contributor to the Club (since 1967): Anna van der Velden

Our oldest trophy, for the person who gives the most to MOP on and off the field. Thank you, Anna, for everything you do.

Marjanka / Maurits Houben Cup, Outstanding Youth Player: Vera

A brilliant season from one of our brightest young talents.

We also celebrated Keyansh, who received the Inzet en Passie Trofee as our most dedicated youth player, and Aysha, who was presented with a Netherlands Women's T20 World Cup jersey signed by the Dutch team.

Thank you

A huge thank-you to our board members Satish, Anna, Mark, Carine, Robin, Vikram and Piyush, and to all our captains, coaches, scorers, volunteers, parents and sponsors. This club runs on you.

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