Moses leads Gaborone Two to victory

Dumisani Ncube | Tuesday April 15, 2014 15:28

 

Gaborone Four skipper Saad Mohyuddin won the toss and elected to field  with Imran Pathan bowling the first over. Gaborone Two opening batsmen Akhlaq Raja and rookie Tharindu Perera started off with a quick strike rate.

Raja scored four successive fours in the third over from Afzal Hassan’s deliveries as Gaborone Two raced to 25 runs  without loss.

Raja’s dominance came to an end in the fifth over when his shot was caught by Shree Shriom from a Hassain delivery, the ageing batsman went out for 32 runs from 18 balls and he was replaced by all rounder James Moses. The all rounder came in and increased the tempo of the game.

In the sixth over Gaborone Four pacer Manu Michael bowled out Perera who had three runs from 11 deliveries, his successor Selvam Sadasivam did not last long as he was bowled out in the same over.

Innocent Chando came in to partner Moses, the two batsman formed a strong partnership, which gave the Gaborone Four fielders a difficult time on the pitch.

The introduction of young pacer Leruo Lantern in the 11th over gave the batsmen more room to score runs since they were taking advantage of the inexperienced bowler’s deliveries. At the end of the over Gaborone Two had 89 runs.

The duo managed to reach the 100 mark run in the 15th over. They continued to maintain a strong partnership, Moses scored a series of sixes with one hitting a car parked at the parking lot to mark his half-century.

Bowler Manu Michael broke the solid partnership when he bowled out James Moses who went out for 67 runs from 40 balls. Gaborone Two all rounder Manzoor Hussein came in when they were riding high with 144 runs to partner Chando who did not last long after his partner’s departure when his shot was caught by Lantern.    Zain Abbassi came in to partner Hussain, the batsmen scored a couple of runs as Gaborone Two closed on 165 runs for five wickets.

Gaborone Four opening batsmen Saad Mohyuddin and Afzal Hassain came in with an aim of surpassing their opponents’ score. In the second over the batsmen had a partnership of 14 runs, Mohyuddin got an injury on his thumb from a Zain Abbassi delivery.

Hassain was bowled out by Abbassi going out for five runs, he was replaced by hard hitting batsman Mishad Aostad.

Gaborone Four’s batting strike rate dropped in the third over when Mohyuddin had a challenge due to the injury on his thumb. The batsman retired injured, making way Imran Pathan. Abbassi got another wicket when he bowled out Aostad in the fourth over and was replaced by Asif Akkah

Gaborone Four lost another wicket when Pathan was run out by Abbassi. Alap Shah came in for a duck with Elvis Chipfumbu catching his shot.

 Mohyuddin came back in to face James Moses’s deliveries to push the strike rate. In the ninth over Gaborone Four had 45 runs. Manzoor Hussein went on to claim Akkah’s wicket and was replaced by Nanshad Naslee.

Mohyuddin struggled to hit shots due to the injury but he tried to get a few boundaries and single runs, he was bowled out by Selvam Sadasivam.

Manu Michael came in and he almost went out for a duck. Naslee’s wicket fell in the 15th over when he was bowled out by Hussain.

Shree Shriom came in for Naslee and was dismissed for three. In the 17th over Shriom was bowled out by Raja. Gaborone Four found the going tough, eventually out for 128, handing Gaborone Two a 37 run victory.