By Richard Boxall
The weekend’s 40-over league matches again produced a feast of runs as Royal strengthened their position at the top while Markhor narrowly beat Limassol Zalmi.
Royal’s batsmen continued their good form in amassing 414-9 against Cyprus Super Kings. Waqas Akhtar (92) and Sehran Ahmed (75) put on 183 for the first wicket, Karan Singh added 42, and then Sarpreet Singh (60) and Satish Kumar (41 not out) added 90 for the ninth wicket.
Super Kings’ number 10 Rajasekhar Poluri top-scored with 30 but the team could only muster 101 all out, with Asif Mehmood taking 3-36.
A much closer contest resulted in victory for Markhor with two overs to spare in a high scoring encounter with Zalmi, who batted first and made 344, with Noman Zeb making 114 and Muhammad Huzaifa 71.
Markhor lost only 4 wickets in passing this total, thanks to Mohamad Ikram’s unbeaten 154, with 9 sixes and 16 fours, supported in a partnership of 152 by Zeeshan Ali (58).
Zalmi were again in the runs the following day, this time successfully, as they made 216-4 in a T20 match against Punjabi Kings. Umar Shah (56) and Babar Ayub (41) put on an unbroken stand of 73 after Jawad Shah opened with 47.
Jawad then took 3-13 to help bowl out Punjabi Kings for 197, despite the efforts of Rajinder Kumar who was last man out for 77.
Markhor completed a successful weekend by beating Everest by 4 wickets in the T20. Ram Jaswal’s 75 helped Everest to a total of 179-5, but Markhor passed this score inside 16 overs. Abu Baqar (45) and Shahzad Ahmed (33) put on 76 for the first wicket, before Awais Ahmad finished the game in style with 7 sixes in his unbeaten 52.
The previous day’s hero Mohamad Ikram turns out for Napa Royal Kings in the T20 competition, and he followed his century with 70, supported by Ali Ali’s 39 not out, as they reached 161-3 against Limassol Moufflons. Hamza Ali made 45 in reply but Moufflons were unable to maintain the scoring rate needed and finished on 134-6.
Next weekend sees a number of important games as teams scramble for places in the knockout phase. In the 40 over league Black Caps take on Sri Lanka Lions on Saturday with both hoping for the runners-up spot and a place in the final.
Then on Sunday Epi Lions have a chance to leapfrog the Nicosia-based Sri Lankan CC in Group C of the T20 and qualify for the quarter finals – but only if they win by a big enough margin to pass their rivals on net run rate. More fireworks can be expected.