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MCC, PAK XI FOR T20 FINAL

29/07/2021 08:38:00 ANDILE LANGWENYA

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MALKERNS – Mbabane Cricket Club and Radio Shop Pak XI will be facing each other this coming Sunday in the ECA cricket T20 final at Malkerns country club.

ECA denotes Eswatini Cricket Association (ECA). The two teams won their semi-final matches last Sunday, where the first match saw MCC XI go head-to-head with Mbabane Cricket Club. MCC XI won the toss and opted to bat first. MCC XI finished their 20 allotted overs at 167/7. Scoring more runs on the MCC side was Estean Sauerman with 53 runs from 34 balls, Stefan Van Vuuren with 27 runs from 21 balls and Melusi Magagula with his 25 runs from 25 balls.

Target

In pursuing the target of 168 runs to win, Mbabane Cricket Club was still safe when passing the halfway mark as they were at 88/2. Mbabane Cricket Club was able to reach the target in 19.1 overs with 5 wickets remaining in hand and Mbabane Cricket Club won by 5 wickets. The second semi-final match saw Dada’s XI locking horns with Radio Shop Pak XI in a nail-biting match. Radio Shop chose to bat first after winning the toss. Dada’s XI had them in trouble within the first 2 overs, Radio Shop was at 7/2 at the end of the second over giving thus giving Dada’s XI an impression that they would conquer. Dada XI’s joy was shortlived as Radio Shop Pak XI was able to bring the batting innings into order with the middle and bottom-order batsmen.

Pressure

Radio Shop was at 72/2 when passing the halfway mark after preserving the wickets; the pressure was lessened and gave much confidence to the batsmen despite the bad start. Radio Shop Pak XI managed to post a competitive score of 160/8 in the full quota of 20 overs. Faced with a target of 161 runs to win, this seemed to be an easy mission to be accomplished by Dada’s XI, considering their good start especially the first 5 overs clean shots by opening batsman Abbas Ali (33 runs from 15 balls) enabled Dada’s XI to quickly get dangerously closer to the target. He was supported by Fazal Nanabawa with 29 runs from 19 balls, unfortunately with the lack of support from their successors. Dada’s XI crumbled in 12.3 overs with only 105 runs on the board Radio Shop Pak XI clinched a 55-run victory over Dada’s XI to reach the final against Mbabane Cricket Club, who had won earlier against MCC XL.

The Secretary General of ECA, Mandla Dlamini has thanked all the teams for a marvellous performance and further wished the best of luck to the two finalist teams which are Mbabane Cricket Club and Radio Shop Pak XL. “A thrilling final match between Mbabane Cricket Club and Radio Shop Pak XI will take place this coming Sunday at the Malkerns Country Club. And I would like to wish best of luck to the two teams, I hope they will go back to the drawing board to find a winning way that will give them the title,” said Dlamini.