Andalucian Cricket T20 League – Game Week 3
The conclusion of the league was going to be tight going into the last weekend with Granada CC taking on Costa del Sol CC.
Malaga CC having already played all their games had finished on 4 points after 2 wins,
It meant these two clubs needed to win both games or at least win one by a big margin to become champions with qualification for the Spanish National Playoffs in Alicante up for grabs as Andalucian Champions.
Match 5
Granada CC won the toss and elected to bat first.
GCC openers Aakash T and Phil T got their side off to a solid start taking on the Costa’s opening bowlers, Jaime R and Bruce R. This continued with the first bowling changes when Clifton M and Iggy H were required.
The opening pair scoring 88 runs in the first 11 overs before Phil was run out on 37 runs. Richie A in at 3 also looked comfortable early on before Aakash was caught off of Clifton on 59 as Granada lost their second wicket on 125.
Sebin X joined Richie in the middle as both batsmen helped move the total above 150 in the 15th over, before the latter was run out, also scoring 37 runs. Jamie P joined at 5 but was clean bowled by James R in the 19th over. Sebin continued to hit some good shots but was finally stumped by Gurnam on 41 on the last ball of the innings, as Richard C got his 1st wicket.
Granada CC closed on a very decent 202/5 in 20 overs.
The second innings started with Iggy H and Richard L opening for the CDSCC. Granada got off to the best possible start as Iggy was dismissed on the 1st ball of the innings as Todd D had Aakash to thank for the catch.
With the arrival of Jaime R, CDSCC were able to steady themselves for a good few overs until Richard L was dismissed thanks to a patient Aakash having scored 17 with his team’s total on 37/2 after 6 overs. Shafeer F joined Jaime in at 4 but in his attempt to accelerate the run rate he became clean bowled by Sebin after scoring a swift 23, with Costa’s total at 69/3 in 10 overs.
Anik C in at 5 didn’t hang around and soon left without scoring, caught by Todd in the 12th. At which point it was starting to look ominous for CDS and a total of 130-140 runs was looking most likely. But Egan S. Dantis was going to give it everything to reach the target and as he strode in at 6 was quick to show his intent hitting the ball to all corners of the ground as he reached his 50 in just a few deliveries.
Jaime who was mainly an onlooker soon lost his wicket having made a decent contribution scoring 40 runs but when he was caught and bowled by Aakash, Egan knew the light blues hopes lay firmly in his hands if they were going to victorious but the innings finally closed on 182/5 some 20 runs shy of the total. Egan remained not out on 61 as Clifton was left in support on 2 leaving Granada CC the winners and a decent NRR with the 20 run margin.
PoTM: Aakash Tufchi 59 Runs & 1-35.
Result: Granada CC win by 20 runs.
Match 6
Going into the final game meant a Granada win would see them crowned champions on points but should CDS win the match all clubs would finish on the same 2 wins and 4 points, so the league would then come down to the NRR which favoured CDSCC ahead of play.
Granada were again in winning even at the toss as they elected to bat again. CDSCC met the news with a change in the bowling attack giving the new ball to Riley Snr. (James) and Clifton M who got their team off to an amazing start, dismissing the first 3 Granada batsmen (Aakash, Todd & Paul C) without scoring a run… leaving Granada 1 for 3 after 2 overs.
James R then got wicket no. 4 with Sam on 4 runs as Granada ended on 32 runs after 7 overs. Richie A kept the score moving with some valuable boundaries as Phil T fell on 12 to Shafeer in the 10th over.
Sebin X had a short stay when Richard C caught him LBW on 8 as Jaime R got Gary R out for 15. Granada’s innings never gained much momentum from there ending on a modest 109 from their 20 overs, with Bruce R and Anik C taking the final wickets.
So it was down to the Costa boys to come good and make the total with the superior Net Run Rate compared to Granada CC. CDSCC opened with two guns in Anik C and Richard L but Anik’s stay was brief, bowled for 6 runs by Aakash T.
This brought newly fit, Andrew James to the crease to join the skipper with both looking in control as they both exchanged well timed boundaries until Richard L was dismissed on 39, clean bowled by Richie A with the score at 80/2 in the 9th.
Clifton M then contributed in support of Andrew J reaching the required target in the 12th over as AJ finished on 37 not out.
PoTM: Richard Lake 39 Runs.
Result: Costa del Sol win by 8 wickets.
T20 League Result – Costa Del Sol CC win on NRR.
