Runs galore at Ypsonas

By Richard Boxall

A staggering 705 runs were scored on Saturday in the 40-over match between Black Caps and Markhor at Ypsonas cricket ground, and the run feast continued on Sunday when Jawad Shah hit a massive 162 for Limassol Zalmi in a T20 match against Everest.

Black Caps have recruited some Amdocs players for their team in the 40-over league, and two of them, Preetaj Deol and Gaurav Sagwan proved their worth in hitting centuries, supported by a half century from Ankit Kumar, as they amassed 394-9. Preetaj participated in two century stands – 110 for the first wicket and 164 for the second.

Faced with such a daunting target, and after losing their first 4 wickets for 59, Markhor made a brave effort as Shah Khalid became the game’s third century maker, adding 137 with Awais Solahri (68) as Markhor scored quicker than the required rate. But wickets fell and despite a late flourish by Qamer Ali and Naveed Ahmad the innings ended at 311 all out after 30 overs.

Meanwhile at Happy Valley, Royal defeated Sri Lanka Lions by 69 runs. Waqas Akhtar (41) and Satish Kumar (37) led Royal to 220, all out in their final over. The Lions had their overs reduced by three due to a late start, but it made little difference as they were bowled out in 24 overs for 151, with only Sujith Tennekoon (34) showing much resistance. Waqas completed a good day by taking 4-40, while Sehran Ahmed took two wickets and three catches.

Pride of place in Sunday’s T20 league matches goes to Limassol Zalmi who demolished Everest by 153 runs at Ypsonas. Zalmi hit 262-2 – a strike rate of more than 13 runs per over – with opener Jawad Shah hitting 14 sixes and 15 fours as he scored 162 from 70 balls. Everest actually took the first two wickets for 43 runs but that was as good as it got for them as Noman Zeb (76) joined Jawad in an unbroken partnership of 219 runs.

Everest’s 109 all out included 34 by Bijaya Ghimire, while Salman Khan took 3-5 for Zalmi.

This was in stark contrast to the day’s other game at Ypsonas where Moufflons won after managing only a relatively modest 147-8 against Cyprus Super Kings. Only Muhammad Husain’s 73 from 31 balls enabled Moufflons to reach even this score, which is below par at the fast-scoring Ypsonas ground.

CSK slipped to 24-5 in reply before a revival by Subareddy Alavala and Rajasekhar Poluri got them back into the match. But in a tense finish they fell 8 runs short on 139-9. Waqar Ali and Lakhwinder Singh took three wickets each for Moufflons.

At Happy Valley MSN Punjab Lions made a terrible start against Limassol Moufflons, slipping to 35-5 before a match-winning recovery by Kulwinder Singh (25) and Sushil Kumar (61 not ou) took them to 153-9, with Abdul Rehman taking 3-29 for Moufflons.

The Limassol-based team passed 100 for the loss of only two wickets thanks to Ghulam Murtaza (58) and Salman Akram (27), but were always struggling to maintain the required

run rate. A flurry of wickets left them on 127-7 at the end of their 20 overs, leaving the Lions winners by 26 runs.

In the day’s final game Napa Royal Kings were struggling at 84-7 against Amdocs, when Hardeep Singh came in at number nine and proceeded to turn the game round with a rapid 45, helping his team to 166-8.

Amdocs failed to score quickly enough to threaten their target, reaching 119-6 in their 20 overs, with only Preetaj Deol (49) scoring heavily. The Kings, for whom Manzoor Ali conceded only 15 runs in his 4 overs, won comfortably by 47 runs.