On Saturday morning, in the ‘Battle of the Mayalis’, Kings Kerala CC defeated their rivals Kerala Tuskers CC to remain the only unbeaten team of the 2019 T20 Cricket Summer League with 4 wins out of 4.
Losing the toss and put in to bat first, Kings Kerala got off to a slow start, reaching just 60 runs in 11 overs. Avinash Dileep top-scored for Kings with 20 runs as his side staggered to a low score of 109/9 from their 20 overs.
Tuskers’ ability to take wickets throughout the innings, Basil Joy 3 wickets, Salu Kanakalil Thomas and Rahul Nair 2 wickets each was the casue of the league’s top team to reach such a low total.
Tuskers’ must have felt confident of an easy win when they went in to bat, however their innings started off very similar to Kings’.
A stifled batting display and the failure to get any meaningful batting partnerships going proved fatal for Tuskers.
After Tuskers’ captain Prince George was dismissed, by a stunning catch taken one handed by Bose Paul, the end seemed inevitable.
Tuskers were eventually bowled out for 85 runs with Kings’ captain Sujesh Appu finishing on 4 wickets to become the 2nd player to reach 10 wickets for the season and move past St. John C’s Jurg Hirschi in the bowling leader boards, finishing with 11 wickets.
Kings Kerala remain top of the league while Kerala Tuskers are left to hold on to the last play-off spot in 4th.
On Sunday morning, Marsa CC suffered back-to-back defeats as Paddy Power.Betfair CC recorded only their 2nd win of the season.
Marsa, put into bat first, were on the ropes within the first 5 overs after losing 3 quick wickets, their score on only 16 runs.
A masterclass of an innings from Marsa’s Glenn Tavilla helped his side to 133/6 in their 20 overs. Tavilla finished on 66 runs not out. Paddy Power.Betfair CC’s Bilal Qadir and Abid Ali each took 2 wickets. A bowling attack led by Jaswinder Singh seemed on the march to victory as Marsa took 6 wickets for a score of only 34 runs.
However, a match-winning innings from Atta Rabi Mubashir (47 runs) and a contribution of 26 runs from Abid Ali saw PPB over the line with only 2 overs to spare. J Singh took 4 wickets for Marsa but his efforts were just not enough. The results mean Marsa CC drop down to 3rd while PPB move up into 7th.
Marsa’s loss was the catalyst Super Kings CC needed to move up to 2nd (on Net Run Rate) later that day. They secured an easy victory over last week’s superstars Punjab XI CC in a thoroughly professional display.
Punjab XI only managing a score of 98 all out. Last week’s hero Ravinder Singh did reach a score of 47 to climb to the top of the batting leaderboards. Ihtisham Ishaq took 4 wickets for Super Kings. Gopal Chaturvedi top scored for his side yet again (32 runs) as Super Kings reached their target of 99 runs for the loss of 7 wickets. Ravinder Singh contributed effectively for his team again with 2 wickets.
The result still leaves Punjab XI bottom of the league with 1 win in 4, however they are definitely the team to watch as their performances improves week after week.
St. John CC returned from their one-week bye to secure the narrowest win of the season, defeating Mater Dei CC by 1 run on Saturday afternoon.
Another wonderful innings from Jaz Cable (61 runs off 56 balls) and an excellent contribution from Lee Tuck (39 runs off 36 balls, including 2 huge 6’s) helped St John CC to a respectable score of 134 runs from their 20 overs.
It was this innings that proved to be the difference between the two teams at the end of the day, as they absorbed all the pressure in the opening stages on what proved to be a very hot and difficult day for batting. Mater Dei’s Azeem Sethy took 3 wickets, while Julian Makalanda helped himself to two wickets.
In reply, Sethy and Kushilesh Kuppaka thought they would see Mater Dei over the line with their scores of 45 and 50 respectively.
However, St John never gave up the fight, even though victory looked certain for Mater Dei. Some inspired bowling changes by captain Jurg Hirschi and probably the catch of the season so far, by Lee Tuck running 20 meters to his right and then diving full stretch to take a one-handed catch, started to swing the game back in St. Johns’ favour.
Taking wickets at crucial times and some tight bowling, proved to be the undoing of Mater Dei as they just couldn’t get themselves over the line in the end.
Needing just 3 runs off the last ball, Mater Dei only managed a single to the boundary as a rocket of a throw came in from the deep to keep them down to just a single run. Mater Dei finished on 133/6 in their 20 overs as Malta’s Luke Bradley took 3 wickets for St John CC.
The result leaves St John in 5th place, just outside of the play-off spots trailing Kerala Tuskers by just 5 points, while Mater Dei drop down to 8th position.
Next weekend, Marsa CC will have their bye as the 6th weekend of the Summer League draws nearer.
Standings: Kings Kerala 71; Super Kings 59; Marsa 59; Kerala Tuskers 52; St John 47; HSBC Malta 32; Paddy Power.Betfair 27; Mater Dei 24; Punjab XI 20.