Surprises in Cyprus T20 cricket quarter finals

By Richard Boxall

The quarter finals of the 2023 CCA BAO Financial T20 Cup produced some surprise results on Sunday. Only one of the group winners – Nicosia Tigers – advanced to the semi-final stage, while the other three were beaten by lower rated opposition.

The closest game was Sri Lankans’ victory over Black Caps. Shabbi Ul Hasan’s 3-18 restricted the Caps to 134-8, with Bhupinder Singh making 36 and Tejinder Kumar 33. But

the Lankans struggled at first, slipping to 34-3 in the 8th over. They were revived however by Chandana Prartana (48) and Buddika Ranasinghe (42 not out) as they scored the remaining 100 runs in the next 10 overs. The winning margin of 6 wickets with two overs to spare was a lot greater than had seemed likely.

Moufflons were indebted to ex-Riyaan player Shoaib Ahmad, who scored 69 from 33 balls, with support from Muhammad Husain (36), as they built a useful score of 172-5 against last Spring’s T20 champions MSN Punjab Lions. Then Waqar Ali (3-17) and Gurdeep Sharma (3-27) dismissed the Lions for 125, with the only resistance coming from Kulwinder Singh’s 22-ball 56.

Nicosia Tigers managed only 139 against Napa Royal Kings, with Aminul Islam making 31 and Shakhawat Hossain 27, while three Kings bowlers each bagged three cheap wickets – Hardeep Saini at a cost of 19 runs and Hardeep Singh and Tanvir Taariq each for 20 runs.

The Kings would have hoped to reach this target, a modest score at the Ypsonas ground, but were dismissed for 107, with Roman Mazumder accounting for 3 wickets for 18 runs.

Markhor gained a surprisingly easy win over Sri Lanka Lions by 9 wickets with more than 5 overs to spare. Tharanga Pathirana played an anchor innings of 59 and Roshan Siriwardana accelerated the scoring with 42, but with Hamza Rehman taking 3-20 the Lions were all out in the last over for 163.

Markhor’s top three batters made light work of their task, as Abu Baqar Saddique made an unbeaten 57, Shahzad Ahmed scored 47 and Muhammad Qamar Ali ended the match with his sixth 6, finishing on 55 not out from 22 balls.

The semi finals, to be played on Sunday at Ypsonas, feature Nicosia Tigers v Sri Lankans and Markhor v Moufflons, all looking for a place in the final which will be played on 6 August.

On an individual level, the competition’s leading runscorer is Jawad Shah of Limassol Zalmi, and although Zalmi failed to reach the knockout stage his 325 runs is unlikely to be caught. The top wicket-taker is Moufflons’ Waqar Ali, who has 11 wickets at a remarkable economy rate of less than four and a half runs per over, and will be hoping to add to his tally in the semi-final and perhaps the final too.