06 May 2014

Gaborone 3 progressed to the knockout stages of the National Twenty20 Cricket Tournament after thrashing Lobatse/ Kanye by 106 runs on May 4.

The Gaborone team won the toss and elected to bat first at the BCA Oval, then produced an emphatic batting performance to amass 175 runs for four wickets. They then restricted their beleaguered opponents to just 69 runs all out in the second innings to wrap up a simple victory.

But the Gaborone team endured a stuttering start after losing two wickets within the first three overs. Their batsman Ali Malik was bowled out by Arif Malek after just two balls and the same bowler claimed Asim Siddiqui’s wicket shortly afterwards.

But Reginald Nkhonde and Karabo Modise established an impressive partnership for the next 10 overs, which carried their team over the 100 run mark before it was broken by Abdullah Malek. The two batsmen had scored 54 and 55 runs respectively when Nkhonde was bowled out in the 14th-over.

Modise was bowled out by Deepak in the last over, but Gaborone 3 had already established a massive target for their opponents to chase. The chase started poorly as Lobatse/ Kanye managed two runs in the first over and failed to sufficiently increase their runs rate.

Their batsmen also failed to cope with tricky bowling from the opponents as they lost eight wickets within the first ten overs. Sooraj Kollery and Asim Siddiqui claimed three wickets each while Karabo Modise claimed two in a rampant bowling performance.

The win ensured Gaborone 3 finished the round-robin stage as winners of the southern region with 10 points after winning five matches. Lobatse/ Kanye quickly recovered from their disappointing defeat and won their second match of the day by seven wickets against Gaborone 1 to secure a second place finish in the southern region.

This means that the two teams have joined northern region qualifiers, Francistown Cricket Club (FCC) and Francistown Sports and Recreation Club (FSRC) in the semi-finals that will be played this coming weekend.

The first semifinal will pit Lobatse/ Kanye against FCC on Saturday afternoon while Gaborone 3 will face FSRC in the evening. The winners will advance to the final on Sunday morning at the BCA Oval 1. ENDS