Super Kings CC qualified for the semi-finals of the 2019 Summer league, after their win over Kerala Tuskers CC on Saturday afternoon.
Opting to bat first, Super Kings recorded a score of 153/5 in 20 overs. Varun Prasath carried his bat to a half-century with a score of 67 before retiring hurt.
Suchith Samarage and Aaftab Khan recorded scores of 30 and 29 respectively.
For Tuskers, Basil Joy took two wickets and was also involved in a run-out.
In reply, Tuskers’ chase got off to a catastrophic start after losing four wickets for a score off three runs. Bishnoi ran out Samuel George Boby before dismissing Jibin Sebastian, Rahul Nair and Divyes Kumar in three consecutive deliveries. This is the first hat-trick of the season.
Bishnoi went on to pick up his fourth wicket before Tuskers mounted a mini-fightback to finish on 123/6 in 20 overs.
Manu Devassy scored a half-century while captain Minesh Mithai reached a score of 39 runs.
The result leaves Super Kings CC top with a game to go while Kerala Tuskers CC are outside the play-off spots and need to win convincingly next weekend to stay in the competition
In the afternoons second game, Kings Kerala CC also secured their place in the semi-finals, despite their loss to Marsa CC, whose own semi-finals place is nearly solidified.
Put into bat first, Kings Kerala reached a score of 121 runs for the loss of nine wickets. Samuel Sanish recorded a half-century while David Athwal, Bikram Arora and Alex Meears all took two wickets each for Marsa.
Marsa made hard work of their run chase, winning with just three balls to spare to make it two wins in a row after two consecutive defeats.
Arora top scored with 25 runs while Zeeshan Khan contributed with 21 runs.
Arun Kumar took two wickets for Kings.
The result means Kings Kerala is mathematically guaranteed a playoff spot, while Marsa CC requires at least a point to confirm their semi-final place.
St John CC moved into the play-off positions for the first time this season after a crucial victory over already-eliminated HSBC Malta CC.
Needing to put on a big total to gain maximum bonus points, Jaz Cable and Sean Byrne worked their way to a partnership of 70 runs, before Byrne was out caught on 33.
Despite some questionable umpiring decisions, Noshair Akhter then claimed the wickets of Cable and Lee Tuck before Jesu Raj dismissed captain Jurg Hirschi and Tariq Javed.
Akhter then had Aled Griffiths out lbw.
St John’s innings ended in quite an extraordinary fashion as HSBC’s captain Michael Goonetellike claimed a hat-trick, the second in the league this season (and of the weekend) with his dismissal of Ethan Xuereb, Luke Bradley and Richard D’Aguiar.
Despite the bowling performance from HSBC, St John still finished with a respectable score of 158 runs.
In the second innings, Hirschi had the second inspired bowling performance of the match as he claimed a five-fer, his second five-wicket haul of the season and the league’s third overall.
Angelo Delardon top-scored for his side with 37, but he was the last wicket to fall as Byrne claimed the second of his two wickets. HSBC Malta was all out for 122.
Paddy Power.Betfair CC will end the season outside the play-off positions despite their last-ball win over Punjab XI CC by one wicket and their achievement of winning five out of eight games this season.
Their bonus points deficit behind Kerala Tuskers and St John will make certain of their final position. PPB opted to bowl first and restricted Punjab XI to 129 runs for the loss of seven wickets.
Surinder Singh top-scored for Punjab XI with 30 runs while Bilal Qadir and captain Nowell Khosla took two wickets each.
Khosla was dismissed very early on for a score of two.
PPB seemed to be cruising to victory with Michael Nazir and Anil Qadir posting scores of 45 and 24 respectively before they were both dismissed.
However, Moon Malik’s dismissal for a score of 22 saw the tide begin to turn in Punjab XI’s favour.
Despite only needing 22 runs to win, PPB began to lose wickets quickly. Bipan Kumar continued his heroics to claim four wickets (to make it 13 for the season) and Surinder and Ravinder Singh took two wickets each.
PPB required nine runs off the last over with Abid Ali and Ayub Khan at the crease. They were on their last-wicket partnership.
A combination of poor bowling and disjointed fielding helped Paddy Power.Betfair to win on the last ball.
Next weekend, Paddy Power.Betfair CC have their bye as the group games draw to a close.
Standings: Super Kings 106, Kings Kerala 95, Marsa 92, St John 74, Kerala Tuskers 73, Paddy Power.Betfair 71, HSBC Malta 46, Mater Dei 41, Punjab XI 31.