Swamis end Lion’s winning streak and qualify for Super Twenty final

Swamibapa's Cricket Club Batsman Alex Obanda during T20 Nairobi Provincial Cricket League at Peponi School on Sunday, Jan 29, 2017. [PHOTO: JONAH ONYANGO/STANDARD]

Champions Swamibapa beat Stray Lions by six wickets to book their place in this year's Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association (NPCA) Super Twenty20 finals.

The Swamis, who lost to Lions in the first round of preliminaries, have enhanced their hopes of retaining their title. The victory subsequently ended Stray Lions' unbeaten T20 run of 14 matches.

Just like last year, Lions fell to Swamibapa when it mattered most. Lions lost by 19 runs to the Swamis in last year's semi-finals. Swamis held their cool as they defeated former holders Kanbis in the final. Once again, it was old guards Lameck Onyango and Maurice Odumbe, who were outstanding for their respective sides.

Fielding first, Swamibapa restricted Lions to an attainable score of 93 for nine. Their fielding was superb, as they dismissed Odumbe, Abraham Vadada and Abraham Akello on ducks.

Neil Narvekar (29), Hiren Varaiya (26), Shyam were lead scorers for Lions. Onyango took two wickets for 14, Jadhavji Bhimji 2/21, Rakesh Kahar 2/26, Emmanuel Bundi 1/9 and Saumil Patel 1/26.

Odumbe took three crucial wickets, but his efforts were not good enough as Maurice Ouma (25), Pangaj Sanghani (19) led Swamibapa to victory.

Onyango, who is also Swamibapa's skipper, told Feverpitch that before the match, he urged his charges to go for nothing but victory.

"We resolved to utilise the first opportunity to qualify for the final. We bowled well, restricted our opponents making our chase easy," Onyango said.

He added that despite missing key players, who are away in Nepal on national duty, he encouraged the available players to make their presence count.

Odumbe, on the other hand, said all is not lost as they still have a second chance.

"We gave our best, but results did not go our way; we still have a chance to qualify and we intend to make it count," he said.

Lions missed services of Collins Obuya and Shem Obado.