It was a charged atmosphere as Thunder Titans Cricket Club lifted the Ghana Cricket Association Junior Men’s League trophy at the Achimota Cricket Oval, an emphatic 17-run, top-of-the-table victory against Blazers Cricket Club on Saturday, July 12, 2025.
The single round robin league, which started on July 4, saw both Thunder Titans and Blazers winning all their matches till their clash at the Achimota Cricket Oval A.
Titans won the toss and after a dilly-dally first innings, managed to cross a century, scoring 106/8, while Blazers enjoyed the fall of wickets, late into the innings, captain Derrick Ateak achieving figures 4.0-0-20-3.
The real deal was the second innings, where Blazers started with an uncertain opening but gradually built a strong middle order partnership between Lee Nyarko 17(15) and Derrick Ateak 29(28).
With the Blazers standing at 33/4, Derrick Ateak and Lee Nyarko’s partnership began from the 11.3 over and produced 54 runs, until it was broken when Lee was caught by Kelvin Tetteh from Sulley Swalley’s delivery on the 18.2 over. That partnership reduced the deficit for the Blazers, who would have achieved the 107 target, as they needed 20 runs from 10 balls.
Finishing 3rd on the league table was D.K. Cricket Club, who cruised to 4 victories. The Dompoase-Kokwaado lads scored 119 runs in their last match against Awisa Cricket Club on Oval B.
With great restriction, DK limited Awisa to 35/10 in 6.5 overs to win by 84 runs.
Swesco Cricket Club also cemented a 4th place out of 7 Clubs with a nervy ending game against Awutu Winton on Oval C. They needed to defend an 86/10 in 17.1 overs. While Awutu had the chance to achieve the 87 runs target with consistent boundaries in the last 3 overs and with 3 wickets to spare, they let it slide as Swesco changed the fortunes of the game to favor them with 3 dismissals; 2 in the 19th over and 1 in the 20th over.
Awutu Winton managed 78/10 in 19.3 overs, while Swesco won by 8 runs.
President of the Ghana Cricket Association, Emmanuel Asare, emphasized that the league will not be a one-off.
“We are grateful to all of you for making the league a success. The coaches have carefully identified talents to be groomed for greatness, and mind you, this will not be a one-off thing. We will commit to more such leagues to unearth talents.”
All participants received certificates, but David Ateak of Thunder Titans stood out in the Batting chat, scoring 287 runs in 6 innings. Ateak had a strike rate of 150.26 and an average of 95.67. Teammate Carlson Stanley walked away with the best fielder accolade with 8 dismissals and 3 catches.
The best bowler for the Juniors league was Numas Nyame of DK Cricket Club. The young lad took 17 wickets in total with an economy rate of 3.23 and an average of 3.76. Swesco’s Bright Quansah, who took 2 wickets for 14 runs in the final game, also finished with 17 wickets to his credit but fell 2nd to Nyame, with a 5.23 economy rate and 6.76 average.
Nyame left Accra shoulders high as he accrued 40.74 points ahead of David Ateak and Carlson Stanley to be the Most Valuable Player.
The Ghana Cricket Association aims at getting more clubs in the other regions to further develop the game, while identifying more talent for the nation.
By: Davis Nii Attuquaye Clottey
