ICC Men's Cricket World Cup League 2 Update

  

The second leg of the Scottish section of the ICC men’s Cricket World Cup League 2 tournament has begun poorly for the United Arab Emirates. On a blustery day in Aberdeen where a long pause in the game was caused by both sight screens being blown down so violently that thy snapped in half, the United States of America, got their first win in their last four games and inflicted the UAE to their second successive loss to the Yanks.

Monak Patel’s score of 85 from 98 balls provided the spine to the USA’s chase of 253 that went right down to the wire. A late cluster of wickets where the States went from 231-5 to 250-9 made it riskier than they would have liked but the tail had just enough to hold it together.

 

The game’s continue throughout next week with Scotland versus America the next fixture on Saturday. 

SLC Invitational T20 League Update

 

The SLC Invitational League is, in essence, a training camp on steroids. The top 44 white ball specialists in the land pitted against each other over the course of a week is quiet a tantalising prospect and one that I would encourage the ECB to have a look at.

 

The teams are supposed to be fairly evenly matched, however that did not seem the case today – especially in the marine-coloured derby between Blues and Greens, where the Greens were shot out for a mere 90 runs in a chase of 122. A lot for the Greens to work on there.

 

In terms of early competition form it is the Red who look in the finest fettle, boasting, as they did, the highest individual run-scorer, the highest-wicket taker and winning their opening match. Much like the Blues, the Greys put on 120 in their first knock – which could have been more if not for Asitha Fernando’s 4-22. If you thought that 120 was par for this ground, then you would be deceived by the fact that the Reds chased it down with 19 balls in the bank. Lasith Croospulle, a veteran of the Under-23s and the A team but yet to get a full international, top-scored with a 44 ball 54.

 

On Wednesday, the least impressive team are up against the most as the Greens face the Reds in the morning game, whilst the Greys are up against the Blues in the afternoon. 

Shpageeza Cricket League Final Update

 

Speen Ghar hit their straps at just the right time to spring a surprise on Boost and claim the Shpageeza Cricket League Trophy 2022.

The only games they have lost this season have been against Boost, twice in the group stages and again in Qualifier 1 – but they got the victory when it matters most. Their first innings total of 188-4 is the fourth highest of the tournament and always looked a challenge for Boost who have never achieved higher than 182 in the tournament. This challenge was only expedited by the fact they went on to lose wickets in clusters throughout their chase. The first cluster was in the opening overs where they were 7-2. Hashmatullah Shahidi then held things together but Boost never got their worm wiggling anywhere close to Speen Ghar’s. Hashmatullah’s 55 ball 90 is the third highest total of the tournament and sees him overtake two batters who started the day with more runs and finish as the highest run-scorer (411 @ 58.71). Qais Ahmed ended the tournament with the best bowling figures with 14 wickets at an average of 14.07. 

Shpageeza Cricket League Update

 

The problem with the IPL style of Knockout rounds in T20 competitions is that it too often goes exactly to form. This is exactly what has happened here. 1^st played second in the first qualifier, 3^rd beat 4^th and then 2^nd beat 3^rd to make the final a repeat of the first qualifier; namely Boost vs Speen Ghar.

 

Unfortunately, today’s final qualifier wasn’t even marginally close. After putting on 140-9, Kabul were all out for 77. This represents the 3^rd largest margin of victory by runs in the tournament. Najbullah Zadran helped Speen Ghar to turn it round from an uninspiring powerplay. He eventually top-scored on the day with 67* off 47. This sees him knock Kabul’s Rahmanullah Gurbaz off the top of the run-scoring table as we approach Friday’s final.

 

When you get a team out for fewer than a hundred runs there will always be a player with very favourable bowling figures; today that was Faeed Ahmed who got 3-15 – the 13^th best figures of the tournament. Kabul and Kent’s Qais Ahmed got 2-23 earlier in the day which takes him to the top of the wicket tally – but Yamin Ahmadzai needs just 2 in the final to overtake him at the last. 

Bangladesh Tour of ZImbabwe

 Zimbabwe defeated Bangladesh by 10 runs in the third game of the T20I series in Harare to secure their first victory over a higher-ranked team. To the delight of the packed spectators, the host team rallied from 67 for 6 to finish on a respectable 156 for 8, then held Bangladesh to 146 for 8 in 20 overs.

 

Ryan Burl was the man to turn around Zimbabwe’s fortunes as his 28 ball 54 saw them pull off the escape job and claim the historic victory. He notably scored 34 off a single over to help boost his own personal total as well as his team's.  

 

The 3 ODIs will now play out from Friday until Wednesday next week.

 

 

Sri Lankan Major Clubs Limited Overs Tournament Final

 Tamil Union pulled off a surprise win over the Sri Lankan Army in a rain affected match to lift the Sri Lankan Major Clubs Limited Overs Tournament Trophy.

 

Even though their chase was marred by two bouts of rain, Tamil Union were the worthy winners after they had the Sri Lankan Army 84-6 within the first 20 overs. The Army then rallied to 198 all out one ball short of their allocated overs. Tamil’s star man was Santhush Gunathilake whose 3-14 encompassed three of the top 4 batters. With the first shorter period of rain knocking the game down to 46 overs, Tamil Union ended up needing 153 in 37 overs and reached it with great comfort.

Despite not reaching the knockout stages, Kasun Vidura’s 631 @ 63.1 was enough to see him lead the run scorers. Similarly, Burgher’s Divindu Tillakaratne’s 36 wickets @ 9.55 sees him as the best bowler of the tournament. 

Shpageeza Cricket League Update

 

And just like that the group stages of this tournament are over.

 

Boost’s qualification has been a dead cert since about half way through the tournament but Speen Ghar have underlined that they are no push over in their final two games. In their penultimate game they registered the highest tournament score up to that point and then shattered it in their final game today – registering 214-4 against Band-e-Amir. They will face off against Boost tomorrow to qualify directly for Friday’s final.

 

Mis Ainak slipped into the final qualification place today courtesy of an emphatic win against whipping boys Hindukush who have only won a solitary game this year. Allah Mohammad’s 4-15 limited Hindukush to 104, which Mis Ainak chase down in 8 overs, and swung their NRR above Amo’s. Their first mission is to beat Kabul tomorrow to get into the second qualifier. Kabul themselves have ended with a high as their talismanic batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz got the highest individual score of the tournament – and at some lick too. His 121* against Hindukush (them again) came off just 48 balls. This moves him to the top of the run scoring charts. Boost’s Zia-ur-Rehman still has the best figures for a bowler with 12 @ 10.5.