Opener Akash Tambe missed a century by only eight as Ruaraka Sports Club advanced to the semifinal of the inaugural Hirani Telecom T20 Cup by beating Kongonis by 28 runs yesterday. They were joined by Sir Ali Muslim Club who trounced Cutchi Leva by 86 runs.
The two now join Swamibapa and Kanbis, who topped the table with 36 points each. Following comfortable wins in their earlier matches, Kongonis were never going to be much of a challenge for Ruaraka. Although they have shown promise throughout the tournament, and clearly have a group of very capable players, a win over Sir Ali would have been too much to ask for Shem Ngoche’s team.
Electing to bat, the home team showed their intention to make history with openers Tambe (92) and Chandresh Hirani (70) putting on a tournament’s best opening stand of 156 in 18.1 overs. Their stand laid the platform for 178 for 2 before the bowler gave them the support to bowl them out for 150. The two didn’t show any mercy to Kongonis’ bowlers, sending them all over the park with every opportunity that came.
None of the Kongonis’ five bowlers could find a way to slow down the tempo as the two openers scored freely, managing to put up 15 fours and a six. Ngoche broke the stand in his second spell when he had Hirani caught by David Mumbo after facing 57 balls.
An over later, Martin Mworia, also in his second spell, ended Tambe’s hopes of a century when he uprooted his middle stump with a yorker. In the chase, Kongonis chase received an early blow when Ngoche was dismissed in the fifth over with only 35 on the board.
Nicholas Oluoch (49) and Joseph Onyango stuck in the middle for seven overs but their inability to find the boundary and put away the bad deliveries was troubling. Wicket-keeper Sachin Shangavel and Chris Childs also took a while to find their feet, the slow nature of the surface didn’t help their stroke play as Kongonis stuttered through the chase to end on 150 for 3.
“With a team that had nothing to play for, I didn’t think that 178 was good enough because in T20s you can’t keep thinking about the wicket and the outfield because it’s such a fast game,” said skipper Purshotam Vekaria . “We had to work hard in the field that’s why we have managed to win with this small margin.”
At Sir Ali, Vishal Kukade bagged 4 for 19 in three over to bowl the home into the last fours. Defending 148 for 8, Sir Ali needed 14.4 overs to secure their ticket by bowling out Cutchi Leva for 68.
