By Richard Boxall
Everest pulled off the result of the day in the Cyprus T20 League when they beat Napa Royal Kings by 60 runs at Ypsonas cricket ground.
The Kings had beaten Punjab Lions earlier in the season, and after restricting Everest to 150-8, with Ihsan Raza taking 3-30, they would have fancied their chances of adding Everest to their victims.
But Everest captain Arjun Shahi took three early wickets, and Kishor Basnet followed up with a remarkable spell of 5 wickets for 9 runs in only 9 balls, so that the Napa team were bowled out for just 90 by the 14th over..
The result leaves group B interestingly poised, with Limassol Qalandars, the only unbeaten team in the group, due to play Punjab Lions next weekend.
Dhekelia-based 1 Rifles gained their first win, by 20 runs against Punjabi Kings, helped by two outstanding individual performances. Dan Hunt played a typically English innings, playing himself in before launching a series of cuts, drives and pulls to reach the day’s top score of 80, out of his team’s 147-5.
The Kings made a decent start in reply, but were undone by some fine off-spin bowling by Matt Reel, who at one stage had figures of 5-5 before finishing his 4 overs with 5-16. The Punjabis’ last-wicket pair put on an unbeaten 34 but by then the result was not in doubt.
Next week’s meeting between the Rifles and unbeaten Nicosia Tigers could have a crucial bearing on the outcome of group D, after the Tigers overcame Moufflons by 4 wickets at Happy Valley. Iftekar Jaman took 3-13 to help bowl Moufflons out for 95, and 38 from opener Roman Mazumder guided Tigers to victory with 15 balls to spare.
Markhor remain unbeaten in group A after an 82-run win over Limassol Moufflons. Muhammad Qamar Ali’s 74, supported by Hamza Rehman and Sadiq Muhammad, led Markhor to a formidable 228-5, and Awais Ahmad’s three wickets restricted the Moufflons team to 146 all out.
Royal went to the top of group C with an emphatic win over Sri Lankan CC from Nicosia. Prasad Suranga’s 46 from 22 balls took the Sri Lankans to a modest total of 118 all out. Royal’s opening bowler Muhammad Hamza had the excellent figures of 2-4 from 3 overs, and Sehran Ahmed took 3-23.
Then Karan Singh, who took 2-27 with his left-arm spin, opened the batting for Royal and hit an unbeaten 61, with 5 sixes, to see his side to victory by 7 wickets with almost 6 overs to spare.
Exactly half the matches in the group stage have now been played, and the competition remains wide open. Seven teams remain unbeaten, and seven have yet to taste victory, but all still have at least a mathematical chance to advance to the knockout stages in December.
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