Top News

Tezzbuzz Desk- With the end of both the semi-final matches of England's domestic ODI Cup 2026, the picture of the final of the tournament has become clear. The teams of Leicestershire and Middlesex will face each other in the title match to be played on 20 September. Both the teams performed brilliantly in their respective semi-finals and got the ticket for the final. The special thing is that such players had an important contribution in the victory of both the teams, whose cricket story is also connected with their family and Indian cricket. Leicestershire defeated Nottinghamshire by 23 runs in the first semi-final and made it to the final. In this match, Leicestershire batted first and scored 303 runs losing 7 wickets in 50 overs. 20 year old Hamza Shaikh scored a brilliant century for the team. He faced 109 balls and played an innings of 104 runs. His innings played a big role in helping Leicestershire reach a strong score.

Hamza Sheikh's name is also special for Indian cricket fans because he has taken training from cricket coach Naushad Khan, father of young Indian batsman Sarfaraz Khan. Last year, before the Test match against India's Under-19 team, Hamza took training from Naushad Khan. At that time he was struggling with bad form. After the guidance of Naushad Khan, Hamza made a brilliant comeback and even scored a century against the Indian Under-19 team. Now his century in the semi-finals of the ODI Cup tells the story of his excellent form. Chasing Leicestershire's target of 304 runs, the Nottinghamshire team was all out for 280 runs in 49 overs. In this way, Leicestershire won the match by 23 runs and entered the final.

In the second semi-final, Middlesex defeated Durham by 2 wickets. The biggest hero of this victory was Luke Hallman. He performed brilliantly with both ball and bat. Durham, batting first, scored 254 runs for 7 wickets in 50 overs. On behalf of Middlesex, Luke Hallman took 3 wickets in bowling. After this, when the Middlesex team came out to chase the target of 255 runs, Hallman also did wonders with the bat. He played an unbeaten inning of 83 runs in 100 balls and took his team to the final by winning by 2 wickets.

Luke Holman's cricket journey is also linked to his father. He acquired his initial knowledge of cricket from his father Peter Hallman. Peter Holman is a well-known name in club cricket in England and he also founded the Pacific Cricket Club. It was in this club that Luke honed his cricket. Now special attention will be on Hamza Shaikh and Luke Hallman in the final to be held on 20th September. One player has given a new direction to his batting by taking training from Naushad Khan, while the other has taken the team to the final by learning the nuances of cricket from his father. In such a situation, this match between Leicestershire and Middlesex has become not only a title battle but also an interesting clash of two cricketing journeys.