BY THE ARUSHA NEWS CORRESPONDENT
The ongoing 20-over Syed Ali Khamenei Memorial Tournament continued at the St Constantine grounds last weekend with two high-scoring and entertaining matches.
In the first match, A to Z won the toss and elected to bat. However, they struggled against a disciplined bowling attack of Kilimeru and were dismissed for just 85 runs.
Syyed Gulfam Naqwi led the bowling with impressive figures of four wickets for 19 runs whereas Azhar Lalji claimed three for 19 and Hamza Sajan took two for 16. Baman Dilip was A to Z’s leading scorer, finishing unbeaten on 19.
Their opponents comfortably completed the chase in nine overs, losing only three wickets. Shahab Haider top-scored with 30 runs while Chandraprakash, Sejul Hirani and Baman took one wicket each for A to Z.
In the second match, MCC won the toss and elected to field, putting Telugu in to bat. Wilbert and Muthu Sankar dominated the MCC bowling attack, scoring 117 and 71 runs respectively. Their contributions helped Telugu post an imposing total of 247 for three from their 20 overs.
Gurnawaz Singh, Rahu Sridhar and Bawan Benald each claimed one wicket for MCC.
MCC appeared to be mounting a strong chase while Kelvin Nasibu, who scored 86 and Gangadaran Prasad, who contributed 30, were at the crease. However, once the two batsmen were dismissed, MCC lost momentum and eventually fell 61 runs short of the target.
Yogendra Azad was the pick of the Telugu bowlers, taking three wickets for 38 runs. Karthik claimed two for 35, while Deslin finished with one wicket for 16 runs.
The tournament continues at the same venue today.
