Coast Cricket Provincial League: Jaffery ends Champs Mombasa SC unbeaten run

By ERNEST NDUNDA   

Past cricket match at the Nairobi Gymkhana.

Mombasa Jaffery Sports Club ended champions Mombasa Sports Club’s unbeaten run as the Coast Cricket Provincial League enters the home stretch.

Jaffery climbed to second position in the 40 over league after they upset Mombasa Sports Club by 162 runs at the Burhani grounds after over three years of losing to the latter.

Winning the toss and opting to bat, Mujtaba Walji (63) laid into the Mombasa Sports Club bowlers with half a dozen towering sixes as the leading coast cricket side struggled to cover the field playing with only nine players.

Mohamed Fazal (45 runs), Juma Abbas (62), MohamedRaza Tejani (31) and Mazhar Kassamali (26) placed the ball freely all around the wicket aided by 48 extras runs conceded by sloppy bowling, which saw Mombasa Jaffery score 313/9 in just 40 overs.

Mohit Dhutia (2/43) and Bhavya Thakkar (2/35) stemmed the tide of runs by taking wickets. In reply, Mombasa Sports Club found themselves at 79 for seven before opening batsman Vishal Shikotra (43 runs) and Mohamed Al Hirazi 46 not out took the team to 151, posting 72 runs for the last wicket.

Mohamed Reza Tejani (2/47), Juma Abbas (3/23) and AliJawad Karim (2/20) were responsible for the destruction of Mombasa Sports Club’s batting line-up. Juma Abbas once again was the man of the match and secured his place at the top of the bowlers table while taking second place on the batting order.

At Coast Gymkhana grounds, Mombasa Simba also secured a win against unpredictable Burhani Sports Club.

Batting first, Simba posted a meager 140 runs in 36 overs with Randeep Birdi (22 runs), Amit Kumar (21) and Jasmeer Singh Marwa (20) being the main scorers. Excellent bowling by Mustansir Akberali (2/34), Murtaza Zafferali (2/21) and Ammar Taibali (2/17) kept the scores at par.

In reply, Ammar Taibali (44 runs) and Yusuf Hussein (35) batted brilliantly for the second wicket as Burhani looked set to take the game before Harmeet Singh Bawra (3/25) and Dhruv Shukla (4/14) steadied the ship to end the Burhani chase on 132 runs in 29 overs.

Burhani continue to struggle on the points table as Mombasa Simba fight for the fourth place against Coast Gymkhana in the remaining games. This Sunday, Shree Cutchi Leva Patel Samaj take on Burahni Sports Club at Coast Gymkhana ground.

Meanwhile, India was rattled by South Africa on the first morning of the series between test cricket’s top two teams before Virat Kohli’s counterattack took the tourists to lunch on 70-2 on Wednesday.

Openers Shikar Dhawan and Murali Vijay were out after being examined by pacey, short-pitched bowling from Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel at the Wanderers. Kohli, 32 not out, and Cheteshwar Pujara, 18 not out, guided India through the rest of the opening session. — [e-mail]