BAOFinancial T20 Cup gets underway in Cyprus

By Richard Boxall

Royal CC overcame the loss of 6 overs as a penalty for a late arrival at the ground, and still managed to beat Limassol Zalmi by 21 runs in the opening match of the 2024 BAOFinancial T20 Cup presented by HurryCurry.

This season’s competition has a record 23 teams competing, with the final due to be played on 2 June.

Zalmi put Royal in to bat when they eventually turned up at Ypsonas, with only 14 of the usual 20 overs available to bat. Thanks almost entirely to Umar Shah’s unbeaten 125 from 51 balls, with 9 sixes and 13 fours, Royal were able to reach a defendable score of 175-3, despite Muhammad Furqan’s 3-32.

Zalmi had their full 20 overs available to them to chase down this target, but apart from Salman Khan’s 73 from 43 balls they had no batsman to give him the necessary support, and the innings fell short at 154-7.

This remarkable opening to the season was followed by three rather more routine wins for Markhor, Telugu 11 and Lankan Sports Club.

Markhor hit 185 at Happy Valley against Cyprus Knight Riders, thanks to 61 by Muhammad Qamar Ali. For the Knight Riders Md Jowel Mia and Rakib Hasan both took three wickets, but the total was a challenging one at the Happy Valley ground.

And so it proved as the Limassol-based team struggled to 122 all out, with only Jiban Md Jahangir’s 57 posing any threat to Markhor, whose Junaid Ur Rahman had a field day with 4-7 and a run-out.

Telugu 11 hit the day’s highest score – 215-7 at Ypsonas against newcomers and fellow students Philips Warriors. Rajasekhar Poluri (83) and Manikanta Ranimekala (57) gave Philips a taste of what is required in T20 cricket, putting on 82 in 6 overs for the third wicket.

The Warriors made a good attempt at chasing down the target, with opener Hardeep Kumar leading the way with 81 and three other batters passing 20, and they finished on 170-5, a creditable performance in their first outing. Gopala Reddy took 3-19 for Telugu.

Back at Happy Valley, Akrotiri crept to 129-9, with Josh Pirie top-scoring with 45, as the Lankan SC bowlers tightened the screw, led by Ruwan Manawasingha’s 2-12 from 4 overs. The Lankans had little trouble chasing this down, with skipper Sachithra Tharanga unbeaten on 48 and Roshan Siriwardana 51 not out, their unbroken third wicket partnership of 96 carrying the team to an 8-wicket victory.