12 May 2014

Gaborone 3 claimed the Botswana Cricket Association (BCA) National T20 tournament on May 11 after a seven wickets victory over Lobatse/ Kanye in the final.

An inspired partnership between the competitions’ best batsman Karabo Modise and Siddarth Rangaswamy spurred the Gaborone team to a comfortable victory in 16 overs at the BCA Oval.

The partnership, which was established in the third over when Gaborone appeared to be in trouble after losing two quick wickets, reeled off 113 runs to spark title celebrations for their team.

Lobatse/ Kanye elected to bat first after winning the toss and despite their batsmen struggling initially against the solid opposition bowlers, they gradually increased their run-scoring rate to finish their innings with 131 runs for nine wickets.

Azhar Sohel was caught by Mike Mokokwe with his team having made just 23 runs, but Rauf Sheikh came in to establish a solid partnership with Deepak Kallazhy.

Their partnership was the most prolific on the day for Lobatse/Kanye as it yielded 60 runs before it was broken when Sheikh was caught by Mazahir Mohammed.

And that loss of a big wicket in the 13th over proved the turning point as Lobatse/Kanye began to crumble and lost seven wickets in the following six overs.

Gaborone’s chase began poorly with batsmen Ali Malek and Nazaaj Mohammed getting quickly bowled out by Arif Malek.

But Modise and Ramaswamy established a strong partnership that led their side to glory, with Modise hitting eight boundaries that included three sixes and five fours.

Modise was his team’s best batsman with 56 runs followed closely by Rangaswamy with 47 runs. Gaborone 3 reached the final after struggling past Francistown Sports and Recreation Club by two wickets on Saturday, while Lobatse/ Kanye also defeated Francistown Cricket Club by two wickets.

Deepak Kallazhy of Lobatse/ Kanye was voted best player of the tournament, while Karabo Modise was named best batsman after accumulating 245 runs in the competition, and Aarnav Ram of FCC with 15 wickets to his name became the best bowler.

Nine teams, five from the southern region and four from the north, competed in the two months long tournament, which was in its second edition. ENDS