Warriors come out to play at the ACG

In the second match of the day, Andaman Cricket Club (ACC) then moved to the top of the table after a resounding 56-run victory over the Patong Penguins.

KCC batted first in their match against the Warriors, with both sides desperately seeking their first points of the season. A disastrous start ensued for the batting side, however, as they were reduced to 18-5 inside the 6 over power-play, captain Imtiyaz Mushtaq (10) the only batter to hit double figures.

With the threat of his team been rolled, Iqbal Malik (51) was next in at number 7 and the KCC man produced an exceptional counter-attacking performance that included 9 boundaries. With no real support from the other end however meant that when Malik was the final wicket to fall in the 15^th over, KCC had mustered a measly 93 all out.

In reply, a solid opening 32-run partnership between Shakiel Raja (14) and Mughal (20) got Warriors off to a steady start before one-man-army Malik removed both openers in the 5^th over. Any thoughts of a KCC miracle comeback were quickly quashed, however, as Yasir (14) and Adele Ali (28) finished the job in the 11^th over to claim a 7-wicket victory whilst giving their NRR a healthy boost in the process.

After the dust had settled from the first game, it was the turn of Andaman and Penguins to take to the field as both sides looked to build on their winning starts the previous week. After winning the toss, Penguins’ skipper Curt Livermore looked to restrict the runs in bowling first although openers Jagsir Brar (33) and Rishi Sadarangani (39) made full use of the power-play to gain the upper hand before the returning Michael Flowers made the key breakthrough in the 6^th over to dimiss Jagsir with score 65-1.

The Penguins continued to fight back in the 9^th over when Simon Wetherell had both Rishi and Ashan Fonseka (1) caught at long-on, with Flowers holding onto both catches. Post drinks break saw the Penguins maintain the pressure as Mayur Deuskar (4) was run out in the 12^th over before Wetherell picked up his third wicket when combining with Anthony Van Blerk to stump Gourav Kumar (8) in the following over.

With the score 108-5 after 12 overs, Manish Sadarangani (56) and Dinesh Varma (22*) put their team back on top with a 71-run stand before Livermore belatedly held onto a catch to remove Manish in the 19^th as Flowers claimed his second scalp of the day. A late cameo from former Penguin Sajal Guar (7*) pushed the score up to an impressive 190/6 from the allotted 20 overs.

Untimely collapse

Things couldn’t have started any worse in the Penguins’ run chase as a mix up between openers Wetherell and Adam Drew (24) in the first innings saw the former run out without even facing a ball. Fortunately for the batting side, the ambidextrous McMillan (23) got the innings going before Gaur had him caught at square leg in the 4^th over.

A 58-run partnership between Craig Morgan (44) and Drew brought up the team 100 before the latter retired hurt in the 12^th over. With his side behind the required run-rate, Morgan looked to up the ante in the 15^th and seemed to have hit yet another 6 only for Shivam Sachdeva to settle underneath the ball on the square-leg rope to take an exceptional catch to remove the Penguins’ danger-man, Jagsir Brar claiming the big scalp.

With Penguins still requiring 76 from just 6 overs remaining, each batter would have little time to settle at the crease before playing their shots. Unfortunately for the Penguins this triggered an untimely collapse as the scoreboard pressure proved too much as just a mere 19 runs were added for the loss of the remaining 6 wickets as the batting side fell well short of the 191 run target.

Man of the match went to Manish Sadarangani for his 56 from 38 balls faced, while Jagsir Brar’s all round performance of 33 with the bat as well as 2-22 with the ball stood out whilst ACC captain Rishi’s brutal 39 from 18 balls faced helped his side set up a winning total for his side.

Morgan’s 44 from 23 balls faced and Wetherell’s 3-17 performances stood out in defeat.

Tomorrow (Feb 12) sees Andaman and Warriors look to continue their form in the morning game (10:30am) before the Penguins and KCC look to bounce back from defeats in the afternoon encounter at 1:30pm.