Times Of Swaziland: THRILLS IN EBM T10 PREMIER LEAGUE

THRILLS IN EBM T10 PREMIER LEAGUE
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Sports Reporter on 11/09/2023 08:40:00


MBABANE – The race for supremacy in the inaugural Eswatini T10 Cricket Premier
League is heating up.
The Eswatini Cricket Association (ECA) launched the T10 cricket league at
Malkerns Country Club, where they were joined by Minister of Sports, Culture and
Youth Affairs Harries ‘Madze’ Bulunga over three weeks ago. The T10 league
is a new format for the senior men domestic competition, where shorter formats
of the game are encouraged by the international mother body, International
Cricket Council (ICC). Worth mentioning is that the league is sponsored by
businesses owned by some of local cricketers. The games are played on Sundays at
Malkerns Country Club and they get exciting with each passing week.
interesting
In one of the interesting match-ups recently, Magevini XI faced off with Sixers
Club.  The latter won the toss and elected to bat and scored a total of 76 runs
on their scorecard. They lost five wickets in 10 overs. Eric Phiri, the Captain,
showed some effort, as he played 13 balls and scored 22 runs at a strike rate of
169.23. Magevini XI’s opening batsman Abbas Ali was the man of the match with
a match-winning knock. He managed to score 55 runs off 26 balls and the first
and fastest fifty in EBM T10 Premier League. His fastest 50 had 10 beautiful
fours and one six  and he was playing at a strike rate of 211.54 that was
incredible. Magevini XI won by six wickets.
Among the big winners in the opening games were Pak XI, who crossed swords with 
Cricket Mbabane. The latter won the toss and opted to field. Pak XI opening
batsmen Naeem Gul and Farooq Gorua batted aggressively from the start. Farooq
Goroya played an excellent innings of 61 runs off 29 balls with eight fours and
two sixes at a strike rate of 210.34. In the end, Pak Xi accumulated a huge
target of 130 runs on the scoreboard with the loss of two wickets. In response,
Cricket Mbabane went down to bat and lost early wickets and went on the back
foot for much of the match. In the end, Cricket Mbabane ECA lost eight wickets
and scored 60 runs on the scoreboard. As a result, Pak XI won a huge victory by
70 runs.
A team styled MCC, on the other hand, is among the sides to watch in the league
following an impressive display against Asian XI. MCC won the toss and decided
to bat first. They went to bat and fell into a batting disaster, as two early
wickets fell. During the MCC team’s disaster, Tarun Sandeep and Joe wright
played an incredible tornado pair against Asian XI to take the team to a huge
run. Tarun Sandeep played an innings of 55 off 27 balls, hitting eight fours and
three sixs at a strike rate of 203.70. On the other hand, Joe Wright picked up a
quick 50 of 61 runs off 29 balls at a strike rate of 210.34.  He hit 12 fours in
his fastest innings. Tarun Sundeep and Joe Wright’s partnership set MCC team a
huge target of 154 runs for four wickets.  In reply, Asian XI fell into disarray
as early wickets fell. Then, Asian Xi’s batsmen could not resist the powerful
bowling attack of MCC team. As a result Mcc team took a huge easy win by 99
runs. The league is now gaining momentum. Games were expected to continue
yesterday.