Last year, it rained.

This year, it rained sixes — appropriate enough for Mill Hill Village Cricket Club’s annual Six-a-Side competition.

Kabul Kings were crowned champions, the tournament providing the perfect finale to another magnificent season at Burtonhole Lane. After last year’s washout, there was a sense that this year’s edition had some making up to do — and it delivered.

Four titles in one season — Mill Hill Village Cricket Club's historic campaign

Nine teams arrived at the Village hoping to lift the trophy, battling through a packed schedule of group-stage matches and then knockout cricket before just two remained.

Play began at an early 10:30am and continued through to 7pm, serving up more than eight hours of entertaining, fast-paced cricket. With each innings limited to just five overs, caution was never likely to feature heavily in the day’s proceedings.

The final brought together Kabul Kings and the boldly named King Slayers, two sides who had shown throughout the tournament that they were more than worthy of having “King” in their names. But only one could rule NW7, and not for the first time, the crown belonged firmly to Kabul Kings: The side previously lifted the trophy in 2022 and 2023, while Lanka Lions were crowned champions in 2024.

Kabul Kings were led by the 2nd XI's highest run scorer of 2026 Mushtaq Ahmed, who had assembled a formidable side including 2nd XI player of the season Bakhitar Sahil, 2nd XI skipper Jan Temori, and a collection of fearless cricketers perfectly suited to the demands of six-a-side cricket. With that sort of quality at their disposal, perhaps it was little surprise that Kabul Kings made it all the way to the final.

Winning the toss in the final and batting first, they produced a devastating display to post a mammoth 84 runs from their five overs. Opener Qasim Khan got off to a spectacular start, smashing an impressive 22 runs in the very first over. The fireworks continued in the second over as Kings captain Mushtaq Ahmed produced some outstanding power hitting, sending the ball to all parts of the ground and scoring a brilliant 24 runs off the bowling of captain Momin Sadozai.

With one hand on the trophy at the halfway stage, Kabul Kings’ experienced bowling attack stepped up and delivered. Temori, who also captains Mill Hill Village’s 2nd XI, led the bowling unit alongside Bakhtiar and Asif Mohamadi.

Once again, the Kabul Kings ruled the Village.