Rift Valley Rhinos were the big winners on Sunday in the East Africa Cup when they defeated Coast Pekee in Mombasa as rain claimed the other two fixtures in the Ugandan capital of Kampala.
The Rhinos won the toss and piled up 243 for the loss of 6 wickets and they did so with a contribution of 66 from Ramesh Mepani from just 50 deliveries and he notched up 8 fours in the process. David Obuya's 53 had laid the foundation at the top of the order before he fell to a run out dismissal.
The opening stand had yielded 66 runs before Amardeep Singh (31) became the first victim of three run outs for the Rhinos which also saw Prashant Srinivas (24) being dismissed in a similar fashion.
Even though wickets fell regularly after the opening partnership, this did not trouble the flow of runs and the Rhinos kept going after each dismissal to reach their highest score in the competition.
Coast Pekee were always behind the required rate and though they played out the 50 overs they managed just 138 runs, Francis Otieno contributed a patient 35 and Bhavya Thaker added 20 including a boundary and a six, but the end it wasn't enough to pose any serious challenge to the Rhinos.
Hiren Varaiya and Ibrahim Akello were the toast for the Rift side picking up 2 wickets a piece and denying the hosts an opportunity to register a first win on home soil since the series commencement.
.jpg)
