Irfan Karim’s unbeaten 82 and skipper Morris Ouma’s 60 put on a second wicket stand of 114 to help Coast Pekee secure a 7-wicket victory over Warriors of Uganda in the final of the East African Cup played at the Nairobi Gymkhana on Sunday.
Karim’s inning took 126 balls including seven boundaries to construct in a matured knock that saw his side through some battling periods when the game generated into a melee and players had to be separated.
He found support from skipper Ouma’s 84-ball display that saw him find the boundary seven times and go over it once. Ouma joined Karim with the scores on 25 after the dismissal of Manoj Patel (11) and took the scores to 139 before a misjudged pull fell to the waiting hands of Ronald Semanda at deep square leg off Jonathan Sebanja to bring to an end a powerful exhibit of stroke making by the two protagonists.
Mishra then joined Karim and carved out a quick 35 from 42 deliveries to move scores past the 200-run mark before a mistimed loft was comfortably taken by Brian Masaba off the bowling of Sebanja at mid-off. Jimmy Kamande joined Karim in unbeaten 18-run stand to see Pekee to their first ever-title in the East African cricket competitions.
Earlier on, Roger Mukasa’s 70 from a similar number of deliveries was the cornerstone of the 220 posted by the Ugandans in a seemingly good batting track. The Warriors will feel disappointed after a blistering start was wasted away and the side finished on a score that looked short by about 60 runs.
Mukasa’s knock included 12 boundaries and he combined well with Michael Ndiko’s (35) for a 99-run second wicket partnership from just 97 balls. Ndiko’s dismissal saw the entrance of veteran Steve Tikolo who notched up a patient 40 before he was dismissed caught behind off Jignesh Patel.
Patel was the pick of the bowlers with 4 for 36. The Warriors tail failed to wag and Pekee took advantage bringing the innings to a close off the first ball of the 48th over when Patel had Masaba edging into slips for a comfortable catch by Mishra.
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