Kanbis Tigers v Kongonis – East Africa Premier League (Semi-Final) – Match Recap
Aided by a superb opening stand, Kongonis secured a comprehensive 46-run victory over the Kanbis Tigers in the semi-final of the East Africa Premier League, played today on September 15 at the Gymkhana Club Ground in Nairobi.
Kongonis won the toss and elected to bat first, a decision which was justified by the performance of the openers who put the team on solid ground, despite the efforts of the Kanbis Tigers’s bowlers, notable among them Lucas Oluoch (4-0-39-2) and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Rajesh-Lalji-Bhudia-c83524 (4-0-48-1).
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/CO-Obuya-c1276 (51 off 39) opened the innings for their side, and their mammoth 142-run opening stand left little work for the remainder of the batsmen to do. Obanda smashed 5 sixes and 8 fours, while Obuya hit 2 sixes and 2 fours, and both batsmen appeared near impossible to dislodge from the crease.
The Kanbis Tigers’ inability to make any dents in the opening partnership for more than half of Kongonis’ innings, led to poor figures for most bowlers, with soaring economy rates– Bhudia proved the most expensive, conceding 48 runs in just 4 over (with an economy rate of 12.00), while Niraj Patel and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Dishant-Mukesh-Mehta-c54230 both bled 33 in 3 overs each (11.00).
The colossal stand was finally broken up in the 16th over, as Oluoch intervened to send Obuya back to the pavilion. The dismissal appeared to have shaken Kongonis, and the next over saw Obanda caught out by Dhiren Gondaria off Bhudia – 9 runs short of a century.
However, skipper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shem-Obado-Ngoche-c89964 ensured that his team did not fall into a slump, driving the innings forward with a fluent quick-fire knock of 47 off 16, including 4 sixes and 4 fours. In addition, the skipper teamed up with Willam Rudd (6*) for a 52-run stand for the 3rd wicket.
The partnership came to an end with the dismissal of Ngoche – caught out by Bhudia off Oluoch – in the final over, and Kongonis posted a final total of 203 by the end of 20 overs, at the expense of 3 wickets.
Their opponents made a valiant attempt to chase the target, but fell short, troubled as they were by Henry Rudd (3.5-0-15-4), Obuya (4-0-29-3), and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Amit-Kandarp-Shukla-c44021 (1-0-13-2).
The Kanbis Tigers opened their innings with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Harish-Ratna-Vekaria-c61512 (14) and skipper Rakep Patel (33), with both batsmen joining forces for a partnership that lasted 35 runs. The stand came to an end with the departure of Vekaria in the 4th over, caught out by Willam Rudd off Shukla.
Shukla followed the dismissal up with another wicket in the very same over – Gondaria, who was sent back to the pavilion on duck. He was succeeded to the crease by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Niraj-Patel-c2109 (45), who top-scored for the team and set up a 58-run stand for the 3rd wicket with the skipper.
Their combined efforts got the team up to a total of 94, after which http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Rakep-Rajendra-Patel-c83650 was caught out by Henry Rudd off Obuya in the 10th over. Vinod Rabadia was up next, but he only managed an individual contribution of 10 runs before Obuya stepped in to send him packing in the 12th over, leaving the Kanbis Tigers at 106 for 4.
The next over resulted in yet another dismissal, this time Niraj Patel, who was caught out by wicketkeeper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ramesh-Premji-Mepani-c83853 (3) and Bhudia (4), but the latter became Obuya’s third victim of the day, dismissed in the 14th over.
The next over provided the team no hope, as Henry Rudd claimed the wickets of both http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mehta-c75574 for his 4th wicket of the day in the 19th over.
Varsani (4*) was the last up to bat, but with 50 runs required off the last over, it was a lost cause, and the Tigers eventually finished at 157 – 46 runs short of the target.
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