The New year Invitational T20 league entered one of its tough clashes for both groups on Sunday, January 8, 2023 at the Achimota Cricket Oval C.
Beginning from a group B, a top of the table clash between Don Bruce and Carel Super Kings (CSK) saw the later losing their first match in 5 matches.
CSK won toss and elected to bat first but didn’t get it the way they wanted, as the likes of Joseph Theodore, Selvaraj Chockalingam, Arumugam Venkatesh and Michael Aboagye did not have their day but Sam Michael Merbin put all their burdens on his shoulder, scoring *64(55) in CSK’s total of 131/6 in 19 overs.
Captain of Don Bruce, Sachin Pandey really needed to make a difference, as he took 4.0-0-23-2 in the innings that had 25 extras for CSK.
Don Bruce pushed to grab the 2 points in the 100 minutes of the second innings but could only manage 116/9 in 17.5 overs.
Ashok Behera 0(4) and Hari Prasad Mohanty 1(3), opening batters were dealt with by Arumugam Venkatesh (4.0-0-23-1) and Joseph Aboagye (3.5-0-16-1) by the 1.1 over with Don Bruce at 3 runs.
It was a little too late for captain Sachin Pandey, who partially missed his vice Subhasis Ray in the toughest match in the group, coming on as the 7th batter and scoring *27(23).
Sam Michael Merbin (4.0-0-26-1) was adjudged the player of the match as CSK won the game by 15 runs.
Sachin, commended CSK for the win.
“I would take nothing away from CSK, they are a formidable side and they did well in all the areas of this game. Although, 2 overs we loose to umpire turn out to be match costly for us.”
“Our outfield fielding needs some work, our bowling unit has diversity and we are still willing to bowl any team out under 100 runs, 1 more good game and you will see Don Bruce back on driving seat in this league” the captain added.
The win takes CSK top of Group B after 4 matches without a loss, while Don Bruce fell to second with same 8 points.
It was another exciting moment, when Karizma took on Supreme in the group A tie in the afternoon. Karizma, with a draw and 2 wins in their 3 matches opted to bat first after winning toss.
Unlike CSK in the earlier match, Karizma couldn’t go as they wanted to. One of Ghana’s great batters, Rexford Bakum nearly had a good day but his stay in the crease was cut short when his lofted shot at long off, from Obed Harvey’s delivery, was caught by James Vifah on the 7.2 over.
Madhu Raman 21(19) and captain Rohit Makhija 14(12) tried to restore the pace, but the brilliance of Supreme lowered their performance till they were all out for 105 in 16.3 overs.
Sensational Samson Kwasi Awe Awiah took 3.0-0-13-5 and eventually won the player of the match, while James Vifah *59(37) dealt with Karizma in the batting performance, enjoying the entire 82 minutes of the second innings, as Supreme scored 16/6 in 14 overs.
Supreme won by 4 wickets and moves to 3rd with 6 points, same as BGC and Defenders on NRR difference, while Karizma drop to 4th, still with 5 points.
The race for the top 2 continues come Sunday, January 15, 2023 as Defenders welcome MMG in group A, before Champions Utd play Punjab IPMC in group B.
By: Davis Nii Attuquaye Clottey
