Ngara Sports Club B beat archrivals Stray Lions C by 52 runs at home to seal the coveted Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association (NPCA) Division Two title in their penultimate fixture of the season.
The “South C troops” had their title campaign effectively sewn up when their crease adversaries failed to surpass the 188-target set in the first innings.
Stray Lions C won the toss and put the hosts to bat in a tension-packed encounter which treated fans to some exhilarating displays of cricket artistry.
And upon being bowled out for 188 in 38.3 overs, the target seemed easy to chase for the visitors but not until their fortunes faded away, by and large.
Stray Lions C’s attempt to take the title chase down to the wire came a cropper as they were all bowled out for 136 in 38.4 overs.
What this means is that Stray Lions will have to cool their heels until next season, much to their chagrin.
The win handed Ngara B back-to-titles following their T20 Championship victory earlier in the season.
In mid-March, Ngara B defeated Legends Cricket Club by 17 runs at Sikh Union Club to clinch the NPCA Division 2 T20 title.
This weekend, Ngara played their hearts out to deliver the much-needed success they have fought tooth and nail against Stray Lions C all season.
Beating Stray Lions C means Ngara amassed the unassailable lead of 40 points with a match to spare.
Stray Lions C remain on 30 as the best they can do is 38, that’s if they manage to beat Wolves and Obuya B in their remaining two matches.
Harsh Patel, Ngara B Team Manager, congratulated his players for a strategy well executed and a season to remember for a long time.
In winning the Division, Ngara B have made up for their A team which failed to lay their hands on the coveted NPCA Division 1 title despite a spirited fight.
Ngara On Cloud 9
Harsh was all smiles: “A Day to remember and young lads coming out victorious! We as a club are on cloud 9. The victorious being seniors and youngsters, this is 2024 and 2025 we will attempt the same. Rajiv (Sutaria) being the senior batman, he did his part also providing skipper Piyushkumar (Patel) with some experience.”
He continued: “All in all, we thank all and sundry for the unwavering support – winning the season back-to-back is a mental growth of all the players. We also wish to congratulate Stray Lions for being an amazing competitor to our team. ”
–Kongonis On the Prowl —
In another Division Two match, Kenya Kongonis Cricket Team B reigned terror on visitors Goan Institute B before handing them a 280-run blow at Nairobi Club.
Player of the match Joseph Odhiambo was the toast of Kongonis after he picked 4 wickets. On the bat, Odhiambo hit 36 off 45 balls.
Kongonis won the toss and elected to first, scoring a decent target of 322 for 9 in 50.0. In reply, GI could only manage 42 for 9 in 15.1 overs.
Kongonis skipper Thomas Ojijo was also among the match’s stand out players and the second-best scorer with 81 off 63 balls with 9 boundaries and a six, much to his credit.
His teammate Nirav Bhudia was the match’s top scorer when he smacked 85 off 62 deliveries.
Reflecting on their win, Captain Ojijo offered: “Since the Super League ended, I just felt it was good for me to get more game time and try to stay active to work on my own game. The team is building and fresh from playing top tier so we try to strengthen development by pushing juniors to play in the Division 2 League and try to get them as much game time as we could. It’s good to see the development grow in leaps and bounds.:
Ojijo added: “Having young boys aged 15 like Mihir Patel put up their hands and get selected to play league cricket is a big step for our development.”
At Impala, Stray Leopards B defeated Legends Cricket Team by 5 wickets. At Jamhuri, Swamibapa Development team defeated Obuya B by 1 wicket in a trilling match. Batting first, Obuya posted a decent total of 195/8 in their allotted 50 overs.
David Obuya led the batting with a good half century (59 runs). In response, Swamibapa Development chased the score with the loss of 9 wickets with contributions from Divyang Varsani (42 runs) and Mukesh Hirani (28 not out).
