Nicosia Tigers and Limassol Qalandars became the first two teams to qualify for the quarter finals of the Cyprus T20 league. Both secured their third win and are now sure to finish in the top two in their respective groups.
A fine all-round performance by Waqas Akhtar helped the Tigers to a 39-run win over 1 Rifles in a group D match at Dhekelia. After scoring an almost chanceless century (101 from 64 balls), Waqas took two wickets, including an excellent catch off his own bowling. The Tigers score of 174-7 might have been more but the Rifles conceded only 13 runs in the last three overs, with skipper Bear Paice taking 3-36.
Tigers bowled with enough accuracy to make the chase difficult for the Rifles, who did not help their cause by losing both openers to run-outs. Phil Robinson made 44, mostly in well-run twos, and J Ribiero enjoyed himself with a late 37 but by then the target was out of reach, and the Tigers returned to Nicosia with their 100% record intact.
At Happy Valley the unbeaten Limassol Qalandars pulled off a notable 4-wicket win against MSN Punjab Lions in group B. The Lions lost both openers for ducks and struggled to 105 all out as Qalandars’ Prashant Patel took 4-23.
In reply Muhammad Huzaifa made 39 and Muhammad Qasim 30. Neeraj Tiwari slowed the run chase with 3-19 from 4 overs, but Qalandars reached their target with 4 wickets and 4 overs to spare.
In the same group Telugu 11 gained their first victory of the season, beating Everest by 5 wickets. Ashish Bam’s 41 and 40 from Sahil Aktar took Everest to a total of 152. Telugu opener Vinay Kode made 30, but when Everest reduced them to 110-5 the game was in the balance.
An unbroken partnership between Subbareddy Alavala (46) and Rajasekhar Poluri guided Telugu home, moving them off the bottom of the group, a position now occupied, unusually, by Punjab Lions.
In group C Sri Lankan Lions of Limassol returned to winning ways with an impressive 9-wicket victory over the Nicosia-based Sri Lankan CC. Randunu Ranathunga (39) and BLCS Kumara (35) helped the Nicosia team reach 138-7 after being restricted by tight bowling by Lahiru Udayanga, Chamal Sadun and Sameera Madushan.
The Lions opening pair put on 97 in reply, until Akila De Silva fell for 73, scored off 29 balls. No other wickets fell and captain Nalin Pathirana remained unbeaten on 34 as his team improved its net run rate – a factor which may be significant in a very tight group.
The third Sri Lankan team, Lankan Sports Club, suffered a setback in losing to Amdocs by 3 wickets. Ajith Kumara top-scored for the Lankans with 32 not out, but the total of 128-9 was below par at the Ypsonas ground. Akhilesh Karande was the most successful Amdocs bowler with 3-19.
Lankan SC made the Amdocs batters work hard for their victory, with Roshan Siriwardana taking 3-23 and Samira Akalanka 3-27. Amdocs’ victory was due to their captain Chaitas Shah, who opened the innings and remained at the crease till the end, scoring 62 not out and hitting the winning runs in the 17th over.
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