Cricket: Inaugural National Day Women’s Premier League T10 tournament Narayan XI winners |15 July 2022
Narayan XI with their winner’s trophy (Photo: Contributed)
The conclusion to an exciting inaugural National Day Women’s Premier League T10tournament organised by the Seychelles Cricket Association met a final between the top two teams ‒ Narayanan XI and Roaring Lions.
Bowling first, Narayan kept it very tight and only allowed the Roaring Lions to score 53 runs in their allocated 10 overs. The best bowlers for Narayan were Vasanthi who bowled 2 overs giving away only 8 runs and taking 1 wicket followed by Malshini who bowled 2 overs giving away 12 runs and taking 1 wicket.
The tight bowling efforts of Narayan XI were evident as the best batting performer of Roaring Lions, Manisha was only able to score 14 runs in 25 balls. This was supported by a quick-fire 10 runs scored by Malika who did this by scoring two fours also.
In reply, Narayan XI had a steady start with openers Malshini and Vasanthi making 5 and 8 runs apiece. While this seemed steady for Narayan XI, a good spell of play transpired for Roaring Lions with a fight back with two tickets in quick succession where Thinaya and Vanitha were out without scoring any runs thanks to the bowling of Manisha who bowled 2 overs for 13 runs and took 1 wicket, and Hashini who bowled 2 overs for 12 runs and took 1 wicket.
Despite this fight back, a great finish by Geetha who scored 20 runs off 15 balls took the game away from Roaring Lions as Narayan XI ended up being the champions of the Women’s Premier League T10 tournament.
Earlier in the day, the two semifinals were played.
Roaring Lions won against Deevas Queens. Deevas batted first and made a decent score of 74 runs in their allocated 10 overs thanks to the solid batting performance by Lavanya who made 18 runs off 17 balls and hit three fours in that.
The pick of the bowlers for Roaring Lions was Manisha who bowled 2 overs and gave 15 runs and took 2 wickets.
In reply, Roaring Lions won the match comfortably with the loss of only two wickets and their top scorer was Manisha who made 38 runs in 29 balls and she was well supported by Malika who made 7 runs in 20 balls to take them to victory. The pick of the bowlers for Deevas was Nithya Selvakumar who bowled 2 overs for 8 runs and took 1 wicket.
The other semifinal was played between Kilo Game A and Narayan XI and the latter came out the winners by 35 runs.
Narayan XI batted first and scored 85 runs in their allocated 10 overs thanks to their opening batters Geeta Hirani who top-scored with 38 runs off 40 balls with 7 fours, and Kantaben Hirani who scored 11 runs off 20 balls.
Kilo Game A bowlers could not manage to get any wickets.
In their reply, Kilo Game A made 50 runs for the loss of 5 wickets thanks to the powerful batting performance of their opener Pauldina Lajoie who made 31 runs in 29 balls which included 4 fours and 1 six.
Top bowlers for Narayan XI were Malshini Senaratne who bowled 2 overs and gave only 7 runs and took 1 wicket followed by Vanita Varsani who bowled 2 overs giving only 6 runs and taking 2 wickets.
The day ended with the presentation ceremony which included prizes, medals for the teams and trophies for winners and runners up and for the best performers.
The best bowler and best batsman prizes were won by Manisha Kanbi of Roaring Lions who made 82 runs in 3 innings and took 4 wickets in 3 innings. Vasanthi Patel of Narayan XI was selected as the player of the final match for her all-round performance.
The Seychelles Cricket Association (SCA) once again took this opportunity to thank its main sponsors P&J Supplies (Pty) Ltd and Dijan Construction and other co-sponsors ‒ IFS and Medix ‒ the players and family members for their active participation in making this tournament a success.
Contributed by Jeevan Palani
