Shree Cutchi Leva Patel Samaj cruised to victory against arch-rivals and Nairobi champions Arya Boys Secondary School by a nine wicket margin during the finals that took place at the Nairobi Simba Union Club earlier today.
The toss favoured Cutchi Leva who opted to field first and they applied pressure on their opponents almost instantly when second-change bowler Dipak Patel picked up 5 for 24 in his 5 overs to trigger a middle-order collapse to capitalize on the good work that the openers had done at the beginning of the innings who kept Arya quiet without closing the game out either.
But Patel had only one thing in mind,’ frustrate the Aryans and wickets will fall’ and surely they did, he broke a revival third wicket 42-partnership between Rajesh Khetiya (13) and Gurdeep Singh (35) who threatened to repair the innings after the early loss of Dhiren Gondaria (9) and Divyesh Patel (2).
Cutchi Leva showed no nerves in chasing down 103 for victory, the only blip was the dismissal of the rampant Ravikant Khetani on 23 from 37 deliveries and they got the job done thanks to a match-winning innings from fellow opener Niraj Patel’s aggressive 69 not out from 42 balls that also included 13 fours.
In the other encounter, Nakuru Day Secondary claimed third spot by squeezing past Oshwal Academy of Mombasa by 4 wickets. Oshwal set a target of 125 with Devarsh Pramhbhatt contributing 41, but it wasn’t enough in the end as Nakuru chased down the total for the loss of six wickets with 15 balls to spare. Luv Manek of Oshwal was the pick of the bowlers with 3 for 11.
Cricket Kenya CEO Tom Sears said ‘I have seen some fantastic cricket on display over the two days and the talent on show suggests that the young lads have the ability to force their way into the emerging squads and the National team set-up in the near future’.
This event acted as the curtain raiser for the National Boys Secondary Schools League for Nairobi.
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