Swamibapa A maintained their dogged campaign in search of Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association (NPCA) 50-Overs League title with a deserved 5 wicket win over hosts Shree Cutchi Leva Patel Samaj (SCLPS YL A) at the latter’s Nairobi West backyard.
Samaj were put in to bat first and had to swallow the bitter pill when 4 of their batters were back in the Pavillon with only 5 runs on the board and were eventually bowled out for a paltry 153.
In return, Swamibapa had a good start with a decent opening partnership between openers Harshvardan Patel (36 off 24 balls) and Hrendra Halai (58 from 55) who replaced the injured skipper Rush Patel, which saw the Swamis home and dry by 5 wickets to take maximum points over the weekend.
Dhwanil Patel, who was also the wicket keeper for the victors, chipped in with a decent 36 off 42 deliveries and four boundaries.
Stray Lions were back in the groove with a 5-wicket advantage over visiting Sikh Union at Nairobi Jaffery’s.
Speaking to NPCA Media team, Stray Lions supremo Thota Sreenivas said the conditions on the Jaffery’s pitch were very challenging earlier in the morning, which helped their bowlers, with Neeraj Mishra taking 4 for 11 (that included a hat-Rick) that saw all the Sikh Union batters back in the pavilion with just 64 runs on the board. Jasraj Kundi top-scored for the Simbas with 17 runs off 25 deliveries .
However, Stray Lions batters faced an equally daunting task when they went in for the chase and lost 5 wickets in the process. Neil Mugabe (28) and Libin Raj (23) top scored for the Lions in a low scoring encounter, which they won by 5 wickets in just 15.1 overs.
The win was a welcome relief to Stray Lions who lost by a similar margin to Kenya Kongonis last weekend. Kongonis had a bye this weekend and spent the better part of the past week to shape up for their next fixture against Samaj A.
T20 Champions Stray Lions have not had the best of starts in the 50-Over season after defending champions Ruaraka dealt them a 247runs blow on June 30. The Lions had their July 7 fixture against Swamibapa A abandoned due to inclement weather.
Elsewhere, Kanbis A skipper Dhiren Gondaria hit 87 off 74 balls to enable his team defeated hosts Nairobi Gymkhana by 116 runs.
Kanbis won the toss and elected to bat first, setting a decent target of 343 for 8 in 50.0 overs. In the second innings, the hosts were all bowled out for 227 in 46.5 overs. Rakep patel hit 68 runs off 36 balls, with 8 sixes to his credit.
Rohan Timbe of Gymkhana was the match’s second-best scorer with 85 off 101. Kanbis’ professional player Dhruvam Patel was nevertheless the man who shattered the hosts’ hope when he collected five wickets. Dhruvam maintained good pace, by and large, till the last over.
In another Super Division match, pro Gautam Waghela smacked a century to enable champions Ruaraka A beat Sir Ali Muslim Club (SAMC A) by 68-runs.
Another Ruaraka pro Prasad Abhyankar was unbeaten on 70 with run-machine Pushkar Sharma, who opened the innings for Ruaraka, chipping in a cool 52 for the visitors, who set the revamped SAMC a daunting 345 to chase in the second innings. SAMC were bowled out for 277, with valuable contributions from opener Nithin Arvind (57 off 37) Onkar Jadhav (93 off 76) and Eugene Ochieng’s (48 off 65) Ruaraka’s Nitish Hirani (3 for 19) and Rinkesh Vekaria (3 for 37) were the destroyers-in-chief of the Sir Ali batting squad.
NPCA Division One League also provided some considerable fireworks with Ruaraka B defeating Sir Ali Muslim Club B by five wickets, to celebrate a double victory weekend for the Thika Road troops.
Obuya Academy A also racked up victory with 58-run advantage over Ngara A.
Kanbis B also emerged triumphant at Eastleigh High where they beat Gymkhana B by 9 wickets.
Goan Institute A beat Wolves Cricket Club A by 135 runs at Viraj grounds whilst Sikh Union B made up for their A team undoing beating Stray Lions B by 4 wickets.
