Stray Lions roar as Kanbis displace Swamibapa

Swamibapa Fans react during the finals of NPCA T20 league at Nairobi Gymkana on Saturday, fEB 21, 2016. PHOTO: JONAH ONYANGO/STANDARD.

Stray Lions consolidated their lead at the summit of Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association Super Twenty20 standings after 11 rounds of matches.

Despite rains rendering the Jaffrey’s Grounds wicket unplayable and forcing Lions to share points with rivals Swamibapa, they remained leaders with 49 points.

However, defending champions Swamibapa lost their second place to former holders Kanbis, who had a successful weekend out winning both matches.

Tied on 41 points, Kanbis pushed Swamibapa to third place thanks to their superior net run rate.

Swamibapa beat Ruaraka SC by 117 runs to earn four points for the victory and an extra bonus point.

Maurice Ouma was impressive scoring 78 not out for Swamibapa from 51 deliveries. Rakesh Kehar (33) and Naman Patel (30) put up a good show as Swamibapa settled for 197 for the loss of seven wickets.

Kanbis on the other hand earned eight victory points and two bonus points from their 63 runs win over Nairobi Gymkhana and 144 runs conquest against Sikh Union.

Narendra Kalyan 90 off 45 and Vinod Rabadia 57 not out put up a splendid show as Kanbis went for an unassailable 244 for seven in their innings.

The woes of troubled Sikh Union that has been forced to field their B team after fallout between first team players and the club management continued as they could not match the 2015 champions with the bat scoring a dismal 100 for the loss of six wickets in 20 overs.

Nonetheless, it was an improvement for Sikh Union that had scored 62 all out in 17.5 overs against Stray Lions.

In fourth place, Nairobi Gymkhana intensified their battle for survival with a 26 runs win over Kongonis at Nairobi Club. With only one playoffs slot up for grabs after Stray Lions, Kanbis and Swamibapa firm grip on the top three places the remaining spot is Gymkhana’s to lose.

Karan Kaul, who has been instrumental in Gymkhana’s campaign led the scoreboard with 27 off 37 before he was trapped leg before by Dominic Wesonga. Akhil Boddu (24), Rushab Patel (23) and Harsh Patel (12) were the only ones to achieve a double figure score.

Hosts Kongonis failed to turn up for the task at hand fairing badly with the bat with five of their plays being eliminated on ducks.