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Punjab Lions and Black Caps reach T20 final

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The successful Punjab Lions team

By Richard Boxall

A busy weekend of cricket saw matches played in three different competitions – two more games in the super-6 stage of the 2022 CCA #BAOGroup T20 Cup, a quarter final in the Summer T10 Cup, and the first match in the new Autumn 40-over league.

In the T20 Cup wins for Punjab Lions and Black Caps have ensured them of the top two positions and a place in the final. The two teams that might have overhauled them had their last chance on Sunday but both fell short.

Punjab Lions once again put up a huge total – 246 for 4 – against Cyprus Moufflons, with captain Gurpartap Singh leading from the front with 107 from 55 balls, including 10 sixes and 6 fours. Kulwinder Singh was even quicker, hitting 8 sixes in his unbeaten 68 off 25 balls.

Moufflons had to win to stay in the competition, and made a good effort, with runs from both openers and fifties from Mehran Khan and Gursewak Singh. With 44 runs required from the last two overs, victory was just about possible, but Tejwinder Singh took three wickets in the 19th over to seal a 38-run win for the Lions.

Black Caps scored 202-9 against Sri Lanka Lions, Chetan Sharma top-scoring with 53. For the Lions there were economical 4-over bowling spells by Kamal Raiz (2-29) and Ruwan Manawasinha (1-20).

Sri Lanka Lions struggled as they tried to chase their target. Six batters reached double figures but only Sujith Tennekoon (46 not out) was able to push on to a significant score, and the innings ended on 188-9, leaving Black Caps – for whom four bowlers took two wickets each – winners by 14 runs.

The third quarter-final in the T10 Cup saw an excellent all-round performance by Lovedeep Singh of Kings XI Punjab, who took 2-17 before hitting 54 off 22 balls. Unfortunately for him, his exploits were not enough to prevent his team losing by 16 runs to Nicosia Tigers, who made 118-6, with Rasedul Hasan (33), Roman Mazumder (25) and Iftekar Jaman (21) getting them off to a good start. Lovedeep received little support with the bat as the Kings reached 102-6, with Tigers’ Muhammad Abdullah taking 3-14.

Seven teams are participating in the new 40-over league, which is being played on Saturdays throughout the autumn. The first match resulted in a 34-run win for Amdocs over Royal, who looked favourites to win until a late collapse.

Chasing Amdocs’ 234, Royal were looking well-placed at 199-6 with 13 overs left to score the remaining 36 runs. They reached this position thanks to Rahul Behl (45) and Sehran Ahmed (54), but at this point Amdocs bowlers Hitesh Thadani and Vimal Khanduri took the remaining 4 wickets at a cost of just one run, as Royal were bowled out for 200, with Vimal earning figures of 4-43.

Amdocs innings was built around three scores in the forties – by openers Preetaj Deol and Gaurav Singh Sagwan, who put on 87 at the start, and Hitesh Thadani, whose 49 came off 35 balls before he finished the match off with the ball.

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