Joy for Cyprus Knight Riders – Despair for Cyprus Men
Four more matches were played in the Autumn 2024 BAOFinancial T20 Cup presented by HurryCurry, the most significant being the heavy defeat inflicted on Black Caps by the improving Cyprus Knight Riders.
Cyprus Knight Riders 186-4 beat Black Caps 111 by 75 runs
Fifties by Yeasin and Jaman and thirties from Obaydullah and Rayhan took the Knight Riders to a healthy total of 186 against Black Caps, a team with a few seasons of success behind them. Then the bowlers restricted the Caps to just 111, with Shawon taking 3-23. The win lifts the Riders to second place in Group C behind Moufflons who have already qualified for the knockout stage. Limassol Zalmi are still in contention, and Black Caps, who have finished their matches, must wait to see if a freak combination of results and run rate might still go their way.
Markhor 143-9 beat New Limassol Moufflons 88 by 55 runs
Markhor started their campaign with a win over Limassol Moufflons. Skipper Malik celebrated fatherhood by top-scoring with 37 out of their 143, while his opposite number Abdulrehman took 3-36. Then Junaid took 3-23 as Markhor bowled out the Moufflons for 88.
Gujrat Lions 208-4 beat Kipro Tigers of Limassol 105-4 by 103 runs
The Gujrat batsmen enjoyed themselves, with Parshant hitting 54, Amir a classy 46 and Qasim 41 as they passed 200. Kipro Tigers were never likely to reach their target but they did bat out their overs, with Shawkat unbeaten on 41.
Group A is developing into a 3 horse race between Napa Kings, Gujrat Lions and Markhor.which will be decided over the coming month.
Telugu 103 lost to Nicosia Fighters 106-5 by 5 wickets
In Group B Nicosia Fighters kept their chances alive with victory over Telugu 11, whom they dismissed for 103, with Minhaj taking 3-16, while Dakdeer continued his good form with 36. Fighters won with 4 overs to spare with 20+ scores by Rahul, Sarpreet and Monirul.
Fighters, BFC and Amdocs are all contending for second place in this group behind Lankan SC.
There were no matches this week in Group D but Sri Lanka Lions and MSN Punjab Lions have already qualified for the quarter finals, and will play each other later this month to decide first place.
Cyprus national team
Over the weekend the Cyprus national team (minus a few key players who were unavailable) went to Spain to take part in the European Cricket Championship. A disappointing display saw the team lose all four matches and fail to qualify for the later stages of the event.
A notable feature of the tournament was the presence in many teams of big-hitting batsmen with the power to totally dominate in this short 10-over format of cricket. Despite the efforts of a few players, Cyprus had no-one able to match these six-hitting machines, and the bowling attack did not have the control or penetration needed to slow them down.
Cyprus 104-7 lost to Czech Republic 108-3 by 7 wickets
Roman Mazumder made 34 in Cyprus’s first game but their total of 104 was unlikely to be enough in this format. Sudesh hit 68 in 18 balls, with 8 sixes as the Czech team won comfortably inside 7 overs.
Cyprus 125-3 lost to Luxembourg 127-3 by 7 wickets
The second game was closer as Cyprus were beaten only in the last over. Sadun, who scored 54 in 20 balls, and Roman made a good start with a stand of 83 in 6 overs, but the Cyprus bowlers were not able to stem the flow of runs despite Sadun’s 2-17.
Serbia 159-0 beat Cyprus 145-2 by 14 runs
Cyprus were put to the sword by the Serbian opening batsmen, with 19-year-old Luka Woods hitting a memorable 134 from 45 balls, including an incredible 17 sixes. Cyprus put up a decent show in reply. Scott Burdekin, after a sticky start, found his mojo, striking 52 from 26 balls. Sadun and Arjun Shahi each scored 36 not out, and although Cyprus never really looked like winning, they did at least show some better form with the bat.
Greece 187-3 beat Cyprus 137-4 by 50 runs
Cyprus came into this match needing a win to have any hope of avoiding early elimination from the competition, but again found themselves up against batsmen in supreme form. Aslam hit 86 in 26 balls and Sajid 76 from 27 as Greece piled up a mammoth total of 187. Roman did his best in the Cyprus reply, hitting 78 from 28 balls, but the final score of 137-4 still left the team 50 runs short.