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Sky v East London Community
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| Monday 18 July 2011, Victoria Park |
Sky won by 5 wickets
Sky lost the toss and were put into field
East London Community: 143 for 7 in 16 overs
Syed 37
Yasir 36
Ajmal 26
Rizwan Siddiqui 4-0-24-2 Waqar Ali 4-0-38-2
Sky: 144 for 2 in 15.4 overs
Kaifi Khan 50 retired
Rizwan Siddiqui 36 not out
Shakeel Durrani 31
Aleem Hussain 19
Ilyas 4-0-30-2
Rizwan and Kaifi avenge cup loss and blow open Div 1 In 32 rain drenched
overs Sky and ELCC fought out a titanic struggle with no quarter given and
none asked.
However, it was Sky who held their nerve, running out winners by 5 wickets
with 2 balls to spare.
Winning the toss ELCC elected to bat and despite unease against the swinging
new ball were ticking along at 8 per over with a fair bit of luck.
It took 2 wickets from 3 balls by Rizwan Siddiqui to remove the openers
however this only brought in the powerful ELCC middle order with big hitting
Yasir and Ajmal taking a particular liking to Waqar Ali. However, it was
Waqar or more appropriately two stunning catches on the boundary, firstly by
Kaifi and secondly by Dani in consecutive balls that turned the match.
ELCC's run rate dropped and with a couple of run outs and a wicket for
Shakeel, they could only mange 144-7 in the 16 overs. Sky, began their chase
in earnest and Shakeel and Aleem were running along at 10 per over off the
first five before another two wickets in two balls, by Ilyas, removed both
openers.
This brought together Kaifi and Rizwan who with a combination of running
hard allied to regular crossing and clearing of the boundary kept the run
rate around 9 per over in an 85 run partnership that ended with the
retirement of Kaifi on 50.
With 12 needed off 12 the tension was palpable but Rizwan and Amir saw Sky
safely home with a boundary off the 4th ball of the final over. So with
Ducks losing to Callys and 4 teams equal on 8 points, all having played 5
games, this may well be one of the tightest finishes in the league's
history.
Interesting times indeed.
Submitted by Rizwan of Sky
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