22 Aug 2016

Tladi secured their third successive national T20 title by beating Ditlhase by seven runs in a closely contested final played at Botswana Cricket Association (BCA) oval on August 22. 

It was also the third time in a row that the two sides had played against each other in the T20 final since 2014.

Tladi made it to the final by beating Selebi Phikwe Cricket Club by 10 runs in the semifinal while Ditlhase defeated Francistown Cricket Club by 35 runs on August 21.

Tladi batted first after winning the toss and were 126-6 at the end of their innings.

They then produced good bowling performance to limit Ditlhase to 119-9 in the second innings. 

Zain Abbasi and Saad Mohyuddin were first to the crease for Tladi and the partnership combined for 46 runs before it was broken when Abbasi was caught by Inzimam Master in the fifth over.

Karabo Motlhanka came in to partner Mohyuddin but was bowled out by Mansoor Hussein in the eighth over after facing just six balls and making two runs.

 The next batsman, Noor Ahmed, was also quickly dismissed by Hussein after just two balls.

However, James Moses came on as the fifth batsman and established a prolific partnership with Mohyuddin, which helped Tladi cross over the 100 runs mark by the 16th-over.

The two finished the match as the best batsmen for Tladi with Mohyuddin making a total of 44 runs while Moses made 35. 

The two batsmen were dismissed in the 16th and 18th-overs respectively when Mohyuddin was caught by Akhlaq Raja and Moses was run-out.

Chasing a target of 127 runs to win the match, Ditlhase started their innings disastrously as they lost two quick wickets when Akhlaq Khan and Karabo Modise were both bowled out by Mmoloki Mooketsi in the second over. 

Mooketsi claimed his third wicket of the match by bowling out Mansoor Hussein in the 16th-over.

Ditlhase also had two more batsmen, Inzimam Master and Lahiru Perera dismissed in the seventh and ninth overs respectively with the team having made 50 runs.

Ditlhase were struggling to establish a good partnership, and Mirshad Arshad became the fifth wicket loss when he was caught by Mooketsi within seven minutes of coming on in the 11th-over. 

However, Ditlhase staged a late rally through Kelvis Zemba, who made a total of 24 runs in the closing overs, but it was too late to overhaul the 127 run target and Tladi won the match by seven runs. Ends