Cricket: Sir Ali inflict first loss to Stray Lions as Ngara stun Swamis
After five clean sheets, Stray Lions finally lost a match following a 58 run defeat Sunday to Sir Ali Muslim Club in the ongoing Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association 50-Over Super Division match at Peponi School.
Sir Ali who had won the toss selecting to bat set a high target of 250 on the board following their own score total of 249-8 in the opening innings.
Sandip Adole (89 runs off 107 balls) was the top scorer in a solid spell with his contribution including 10 boundaries before Shem Ngoche’s deft delivery trapped Andole leg before wicket in the 36th over after surviving on the crease longest amongst all batsmen of the day.
Eugene Maneno (33 runs off 52 balls) batted throughout to emerge second run-getter for Sir Ali from position eight on the order.
It was a phase which saw Lions get six wickets off the trio of Shem Ngoche (2 wickets-from-43 balls), Hiren Varaiya (two wickets-from-54 balls) and Charith Jayampathi (2 wickets-from-43 balls).
On resumption the Lions were dismissed for 191 on the board in an innings which saw Sir Ali’s speed bowler Irfan Ellahi(four wickets/in 37) being the chief architect of the batting collapse of the league heavyweights.
GC Chimuruta (46 runs off 59 balls) was the top scorer for the Lions in the second innings before being bowled out by Abdul Rehman(3 wickets/in 38) with the pair of Krishna Katukala (33 runs off 56 balls) and Charith Jayampathi (33 runs off 26 balls) also helping out on the batting side for Lions but the numbers could not just be satisfactory.
Meanwhile, Ngara Sports Club stunned bigwigs Swamibapa at Jaffrey Sports Club, Nairobi, by four wickets in another exciting duel.
Swamis won the toss and went in to bat first but were restricted to 116 on the board with the impressive Vraj Patel ( five wickets/21) being the destroyer in chief with the ball for the Ngara side.
Rushab Patel (25 runs off 38 balls) was the highest scorer for Swamibapa with his contribution including four boundaries.
Two players, James Ngoche and Nick Suji, left for ducks in the opening innings as the pace attack of the Ngara bowlers was devastating.
After the break, the Ngara SC side worked diligently and put in 117 on the board in their innings with KJ Patel (24 runs off 38 balls) being the lead scorer.
Swamis’ Jadavji Bhimji (three wickets/18) was the highest wicket taker in the match as the contest ended with 150 balls extra.
