15 Apr 2014

Francistown Sports and Recreation Cricket Club (FSRCC) has qualified for the T20 semi-finals to be played in Gaborone next month.

The club, which fielded young players for the campaign, lost only one game of the five games played raking a record of eight points.

In their game played on April 13 against Selebi Phikwe Cricket Club (PCC) at the Francistown Cricket Club (FCC) grounds, FSRCC won the toss and gave PCC the chance to bat first.

PCC which lost the touch of the qualifiers lost consecutive matches and from the 20 overs they managed to secure 120 for six wickets.

Although Mohammed Saquib tried to resuscitate his team in the last over making 33 runs from 30 balls together with his batman partner Sadik Aswat who made 18 runs from 13 balls, it was too late for the Selibe Phikwe side to increase their runs and to set the target high for their opponent.

Rampaging over their weakest opponent, FSRCC took to the field to prove to their opponent they only need a two point to qualify for the semi-finals with one more game to play to finish the qualifying games.

Chasing after a target of 121 from the 20 overs, FSRCC which started slowly losing their first wicket before they could make a single run, picked pace at the 10th over and their batmen intensified their performance as they managed to record 53 runs within the 10th over.

On the 18th over they needed only nine points from the remaining 12 balls for the last two overs and it turned out easy for them as they managed  to secure two sixes on the 19th over to reach the target of 121 with a loss of four wickets hence finished the game at the 19th over.

The results therefore meant that PCC were out of the race for the T20 semi-finals as they have only managed to win two games from the six they have played and they are on four points.

The decider for the runner up will be played after the Easter holidays and chances are that PCC will be the runner up to join FSRCC as they six points and with a game in hand. ENDS