Mbabane: As the Eswatini Cricket Association (ECA) Senior Men’s T20 advanced to week 7, all the matches are as exhilarating as the newer teams are displaying much-improved performance and beating elite teams.
Mandla Dlamini, the General Secretary of the Eswatini Cricket Association said: “It is very difficult to predict which team will take the championship title as the stronger teams are suffocated by minnows.”
Meanwhile, the Indian Warriors took on Rontanya XI in a nail-biting match, Indian Warriors won the toss and opted to bat first. Indian Warriors managed to accumulate a total of 147 runs for the loss of 10 wickets in their full quota of 20 overs.
“Despite having a very bad start losing the top 2 batsmen at 1.2 overs with only 1 run on the scoreboard, the middle order batsmen were able to “adjust the sails of the sinking boat” to post a competitive target,” said Dlamini.
In pursuing the target, Indian Warriors suffocated Rontanya XI and wanted to finish them in 7.5 overs when the 6th wicket fell with only 48 runs on the board. Rontanya was at 75/6 when passing the halfway mark. Middle-order batsmen were the ones who had a bit of resistance to the Indian Warriors bowling and brought some life to the sickly batting innings.
A shared effort by Asif Patel (25 runs off 13 balls), Nakeeb Joga (23 runs of 20 balls), and Zuhir Patel (22 runs off 18 balls) placed Rontanya within a striking distance to the required target.
The most thrilling moment of the match was the 19th over, where Rontanya XI needed just 4 runs from 7 balls with 1 wicket in hand to clinch a victory. The last ball of the 19th over was the one that ended the match as the last wicket fell, Indian Warriors won by 4 runs.
The Mbabane Cricket Club took on Sahi XI, Mbabane Cricket Club won the toss and elected to bat first, Mbabane scored 203/3 runs in the full quota of 20 overs.
This was a shared effort by Haris Rashid (84 runs off 34 balls not out), Matador Mohsin (53 runs off 43 balls), In the target chase, Sahi XI was unsafe in terms of the required run rate when passing the halfway mark. Sahi was at 75/2 at the end of the 10th over. Tehseen Jutt’s (66 runs off 51 balls) clean flurry shots tried to get Sahi XI closer to the target, Unfortunately Sahi was 37 runs to reach the target after the full quota of 20 overs as they scored 166/6, Mbabane Cricket Club won by 37 runs.
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