The Reading Indian community's Marathi Mandal Association held its inaugural annual 6-a-side cricket competition on Saturday 5 September in Prospect Park. 10 teams from Reading, Langley and Slough took part in a keenly fought contest. The Reading Sparklers took on the visiting Langley Cricketers in the final with each team bowling 8 overs in the final match of the day. The Reading Sparklers won by 14 runs.

Alok Sharma, the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Reading West, who was invited to present prizes to the winners commented: "The tournament was a lovely day out for the team members' friends and family and the standard of some of the cricket I watched was extremely high and very competitive. I was absolutely delighted that a Reading team won the tournament and I very much hope they will repeat their success next year!"

Tournament organiser and committee member of the Marathi Mandal Reading Association, Raghavendra Vaishampayan said: "This tournament was a great success and we are already planning on a much bigger event next year. Our thanks to Alok Sharma for giving us his support and for agreeing to take part in next year's event."

Raghavendra continued: "Marathi Mandal Reading is a voluntary community organisation established in 2003. We hold social and cultural events during the year with the primary aim of bringing together the Indian Maharashtrian community in and around Reading."

Photo: Alok Sharma with the finalists in the Marathi Mandal Reading cricket tournament