Kongonis Cricket Club once again showed no mercy to Sikh Union when they beat them by six wickets in the opening day of the Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association (NPCA) Twenty20 tournament.
This is the second time hosts Sikh Union have suffered at the hands of Kongonis at home. The last time the two sides met at the same venue in the NPCA Super League action, Kongonis prevailed with a nine-wicket win. After electing to bat, Sikh Union scored 115 for 8 with Gurdeep Singh scoring 44 runs.
The home side had a poor start as they lost three wickets for 32 runs before Singh and Nadeem Ahmed revived the inning with a third wicket stand of 53 runs.
The stand was broken when Ahmed was bowled by David Waters. Singh inning came to an end when he was run out to leave the hosts on 91 for 5. Zaheed Abbas added on 13 more runs to propel his side to 115. Waters was Kongonis top bowler with 3 for 26.
In reply, the Nairobi Club-based side lost four wickets before registering the win. Chris Childs and Shem Obado were the top scorers for Kongonis with 46 and 33 runs.
In another match, Rakep Patel’s half century was enough to steer hosts Kanbis to another six wicket win over Ruaraka at Eastleigh High School.
After restricting Ruaraka for 87, Kanbis lost four wickets but Patel’s 63 proved vital in leading Kanbis to an opening win.
The home side openers Narendra Kalyan (12) and Dhiren Gondaria (6) posted 27 for 2 before Patel completed the work with an unbeaten knock that included seven boundaries and a four sixes.
Amit Shukla was Ruaraka’s toast with the ball, claiming 3 for 27. Eugene Ochieng, who was promoted to number three was the top scorer with 28 runs while Shukla added 17 runs.
At Nairobi Jafferys, Alex Obanda led Swamibapa to 160 runs with 50 runs from 46 balls. The home bowlers led by Lameck Onyango then restricted Premier for 101 runs
Premier lost early wickets and were in danger of making a low scores at 40 for 7 until Jigar Patel and Pravan Patel gave the chase some life with a contribution of 33 and 14 runs at number eight and nine. Onyango was the outstanding bowler for the home team with 3 for 19. Emmanuel Bundi and James Ngoche picked two wickets a piece.
