By Richard Boxall
One match caught the eye in the first round of games in the BAOFinancial Autumn T20 Cup presented by HurryCurry, and that was the meeting of last season’s finalists, Al Fatah and MSN Punjab Lions. The match turned out to be a thriller, finishing in a tie before being decided by a “Super Over”.
MSN Punjab Lions 104-7
Al Fatah 104-8
Super over
Al Fatah 6-1
MSN Punjab Lions 7-0
Mangala Gunasekara, just back from representing Cyprus in the world T20 qualifiers in Guernsey, was the matchwinner for Punjab Lions, taking 3-19 in the main match, and then restricting Al Fatah to just 6 runs in the super over, which the Lions knocked off without trouble.
Napa Kings 125
New Limassol Moufflons 99
Sanaullah Safi’s 52 from 31 balls helped Napa Kings to 125, despite the bowling of Gulzar Rana (4-17). New Limassol Moufflons in reply were stopped by Hardeep Singh’s 3-13 from 4 overs, before Mohamed Ikram cleaned up the tail with 4-26.
Cyprus Knight Riders 143-7
Punjabi Kings 90
Rayhan Sarkar’s 62 was the mainstay of the Knight Riders’ total, before Md Rasel and Md Jowel Mia, with three wickets each, dismissed the Kings in 15 overs to secure a 53-run win.
Black Caps 197-7
Limassol Zalmi 133
Black Caps scored the highest total of the day, reaching an impressive 197-7. Pawandeep’s 71 and Bhupinder Singh’s 40 were the main contributions. In reply Salman Khan scored 36 but the bowlers were on top, led by skipper Rajwinder Singh Brar with 3-31.
Telugu 11 143-8
Lankan Sports Club 147-3
Lankan SC’s captain Tharanga Pathirana led the way as his team started their season with a 7-wicket win over Telugu 11. Dakdeer helped Telugu to 143-8, with Tharanga and Saman Kumara taking three wickets each. In the Lankan innings Tharanga’s 36 supported Ashan Chanaka’s unbeaten 52 as victory was achieved with two overs to spare.
The group stage of the competition is set to run until early November, to be followed by a knockout phase for the top two teams in each of the four groups.
