Creditwest Cricket League
Semi-Finalist Results
It’s not often that a game of cricket is interrupted by low flying jets but this was certainly the case last Sunday 15th November when the Creditwest Autumn Cricket League semi-finals were taking place. The afternoon game had to be stopped twice – but only
for a few seconds – whilst low flying jets celebrating the TRNC’s Independence Day roared by.
There were no such problems for the morning match which saw the Lefkosa Fighters comfortably beat the students from METU (Middle East Technical University). METU winning the toss and electing to bat could never gain momentum, losing wickets steadily before a brief stand saw them reach 70 all out. Nabel Khan and Ali were the only players to reach double figures and the team were all out after just thirteen of their twenty overs. For the Fighters Farman, Naqi and Imran all took two wickets with Osman going one better at three.
In reply Lefkosa Fighters only needed twelve overs to reach their target but they did stutter along the way losing a wicket in the first over with only two on the board. Steady progress was made with Haseeb and Imran pushing the scoring along before both succumbed to Nehal in his first over. The Fighters never looked in serious trouble and in the end won comfortably by five wickets to take their place in next Sunday’s final.
In the afternoon game it was a much closer affair between the Gentlemen of Girne and the Cyprus All Stars. The All Stars won the toss and elected to bat and the ball was quickly disappearing to the boundary. An opening partnership of 55 between Aun and Faisal laid the foundations of what looked like being a large score. The Gents of Girne, however, had other ideas and despite not taking wickets, did manage to restrict the overall scoring rate in the very early overs to around four per over before Faisal cut loose, hitting six 6s in his impressive 40, four coming in one over off Rehmat. Having taken punishment early on the GoG bowlers gradually fought back and restricted the run rate later in the innings with only seven runs coming off four overs around the mid-way mark. The All Stars closed on 137 for 9 after their twenty overs.
It was said before the game that the Gents of Girne had never really put in a good batting performance during this competition and this match proved to be no exception. Losing wickets regularly all the spectators had virtually ‘awarded’ the game to the Cyprus All Stars after the Gents of Girne slumped to 23 for 5 before a stand of 44 for the sixth wicket began to make people think that perhaps the result was more in the balance. However, it was not until Bilal Afridi steadied the innings coming in at number six which allowed Sohail Khan to hit freely, scoring 31, before being bowled in the 15th over. This left G of G still needing a further 52 runs off the remaining five overs with only four wickets left. This then became 17 runs off the last two overs, but only one was required as Jawad Ahmad hit three consecutive 6s to take the Gents of Girne over the winning line, scoring 140 off 18.4 overs. So a nail biting finish, with a one wicket victory seeing the Girne team into next week’s final. Pick of the All Stars bowlers was Aun who took 3 wickets for only 12 runs
Next Sunday’s Cricket Games (Sunday 22nd November)
Creditwest T20 Cricket League Final
After 3 months of tough cricket the Creditwest T20 league comes to a head next Sunday afternoon, 22nd November, with the Lefkoşa Fighters battling against the Gentlemen of Girne to become the North Cyprus Champions. The match will be 1.00pm at the Alsancak Stadium.
Creditwest LADIES Cricket Festival
The first ever Creditwest North Cyprus LADIES Festival is being played next Sunday morning Sunday 22nd November between the Sri Lankan Ladies and the Limassol Moufflons Ladies who are both from South Cyprus and the TRNC Ladies. It will be 6-a-side, pairs cricket played with a tennis ball. TRNC Captain Hale Silifkeli says, she knows the sub-Continent team is experienced and she’s seen on Facebook the Moufflons have been practicing hard, but she’s confident the North could still win with a little fortune on the day. The Festival starts at 10.00am at the Alsancak Stadium.
For further information, please visit the TRNC Cricket Association’s Facebook page click here or call 0533 8248999.
