By Richard Boxall
Wins for Black Caps and Royal at Ypsonas cricket ground on Sunday kept both teams in pole position to qualify for the knockout rounds of the Cyprus Autumn T20 League.
Black Caps restricted Kipro Tigers of Limassol to 111 despite Malik Nouman’s 40 from 24 balls. Sukhwinder Singh took 2-5 while Lovedeep Singh, Lovedeep Singh Sandhu and Rajwinder Singh Brar also took two wickets apiece.
A stand of 85 for the second wicket between Lovedeep Singh Sandhu (25) and Pawandeep, who reached an unbeaten 77, took the Caps to a comfortable 8-wicket win, both wickets lost falling to Nazrul Islam.
Royal’s game against Lankan Sports Club was closer, as the Lankans recovered from 56-4 to reach 151-6 thanks to a stand of 81 between Sujith Tennekoon (36) and Dushan Salinga (31). Sandeep Singh took 2-16 and Sehran Ahmed conceded only 17 runs in his 4 overs, before scoring 30 in an opening stand of 57.
His partner Umar Shah remained undefeated on 70 as Royal reached their target with 6 wickets in hand but with only 10 balls left as they were docked two overs for a late start.
This weekend, while more T20 league matches are played, the Cyprus national team will compete in a series of 10-over international matches against Malta at the Marsa Sports Club near Valletta. The squad representing Cyprus will be:
Tejwinder Singh (Captain) (MSN Punjab Lions)
Chamal Sadun (Sri Lanka Lions)
Lovedeep Singh Sandhu (Black Caps)
Mangala Gunasekara (MSN Punjab Lions)
Nalin Pathirana (Sri Lanka Lions)
Prasad Suranga (Sri Lankans)
Preetaj Deol (Amdocs)
Rajwinder Singh Brar (Black Caps)
Roshan Siriwardanage (Sri Lanka Lions)
Scott Burdekin (Akrotiri)
Taranjit Singh (MSN Punjab Lions)
Vimal Khanduri (Amdocs)
Waqar Ali (Moufflons)
The team will be coached by Richard Cox, who is expecting tough opposition from the Maltese team.
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