Kongonis emerged unscathed in the battle of Nairobi when they downed rivals Buffaloes by 4 wickets at Nairobi Club on Sunday. The Buffaloes won the toss and opted to bat and their openers took a patient approach which never gave the middle order a platform to post a huge total and they ended up on 190 for 9 off their 50 overs.
Rushabhvardhan Patel top scored for the Buffaloes with a tolerant 37 and Rajesh Varsani’s a run-a ball 34 gave the innings some momentum in the late on but Kongonis were more disciplined and tighter with their bowling to ensure a gettable target. The pick of the bowlers was youngster Paramveer Singh who finished with impressive figures of 4 for 38.
Kongonis held they nerve after the early dismissal of Baden Odinga to put together a 92-run 2nd wicket partnership between new recruit Abdul Rehman (38) and the sensational Gordon Brown who conjured up 82.
Mansukh Jeshani was tidy behind the stumps accounting for four catches including danger-men Brown and Rehman, his other victims were Kennedy Obuya and Nicholas Oluoch, though his efforts were late in the chase and they did not halt a determined Kongonis push.
The Buffaloes bowlers had little to defend and only Pritesh Rabadia’s effort of 3 for 26 off 7 overs had checked the run flow of Kongonis. They were again guilty of several dropped chances that let off the hosts; they have to improve in this department if they are to compete for the title.
In Nakuru, hosts Rift Valley Rhinos registered a morale boosting win against the visiting Nile Knights by 22 runs Duckworth/Lewis method. The rain interrupted match was decided at the end of the 44th over.
The Knights had won the toss and kept matters in check by bowling out the Rhinos for 162, but the Rhinos ‘never die attitude’ turned the match on its head to leave the visitors on 132 for 9 by the time the heavens opened.
Though, the match could have gone to any side, the Knights must have rued their luck with the rains, as they also experienced a similar fate last weekend in Nairobi when their match was washed out from a winning position and on both occasions they ended up the worse off.
Rwenzori Warriors continued their brilliant form in the tournament with their second win in less than two weeks. With the injured Roger Mukasa out with a hamstring injury, Coast Pekee looked at this as an opportunity for them to secure their first win in the tournament.
Coast Pekee started off well with the opening pair of Peter Kituku and Manoj Patel batting cautiously until Manoj Patel was caught by Ivan Kakande with the score at 28. The highlight of the game was Ahmed Nadeem’s brilliant 82 off 81 balls with 9 fours and a huge six to deep mid wicket. His brilliant innings were halted by a slower ball from Brian Masaba which had him caught by Abubaker Seguya at mid on. Ahmed’s score and a patient 20 at the end of the innings from Bhavya Thakker helped the visitors to competitive total of 205 in 47.2 overs. The pick of the Rwenzori Warriors’ bowlers was Ivan Kakande with figures of 4/32 in 9 overs.
As has been the case in all the EAC games played here in Uganda, the rains came down before a single ball could be bowled by the hosts. The Duckworth/ Lewis method therefore came into play with The Rwenzori Warriors needing 154 to win in 30 overs.
There was a scare earlier in the run chase with Bhavya Thakker clean bowling Arnold Otwan with the score at 11. Lawrence Sematimba the Captain steadied the ship with a patient 47 off 62 balls before he was clean bowled by a ball that kept low from Ahmed Nadeem with the score at 90.
With the Rwenzori Warriors needing 64 runs in 11 overs, powerful hitting from Jonathan Sebanja (30 off 23 balls) and Charles Waiswa (29 off 24 balls) secured the win for the hosts with 2.4 overs to spare and also meant that Coast Pekee would have to wait for another week to try and secure their first win in the tournament.
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