Syed Shahriar Named Best Bowler of LPL Division 2

The London Premier League has named Syed Shahriar the Best Bowler of T30 Division 2 for the 2026 season. Not our best bowler — the division's. Across every club in the competition, in the first season Challengers has ever played in it.

A league award, not a club one

It is worth being clear about what this is, because the two things get confused. Clubs give out their own awards and they matter. This is not one of those. The League picked one bowler out of the entire division, judged on a full season of cricket against every side in it — and the club he plays for had existed for a matter of months.

What he does for this club

Shahriar captains our LCL T30 side and our LCL T20 side, which means that for most of the season he was setting fields, managing bowlers and handling the toss — and then coming on and out-bowling a division. He was also one of eight Challengers players to win a Man of the Match award across our two T30 competitions this year.

Anyone who has captained a side while being its most important bowler knows the two jobs pull against each other. You are thinking about the over you are setting up for someone else while you are meant to be thinking about your own. Doing both well enough that a league notices is genuinely hard.

From all of us

Congratulations, Shahriar. The club is very proud of this one — and so is everyone who spent a summer fielding behind you.

The 2027 season is open for registration. If you would like to play alongside him, the 2027 details are here.