Match week report
Fire, Spirit and Originals went into this week's round of games hoping to maintain their winning ways, while Rockets and Superchargers were trying to return to winning ways and put the previous week's disappointments behind them.
Game one: Originals v Spirit
Spirit knew a win would all but guarantee they finished top, while Originals had to win to keep their title hopes alive. Originals won the toss and elected to bowl. Matty and Eddy batted first and had a slow start against good bowling from Rudi and Praf: 1/1 after two overs. They recovered to score 12 off the next two and finished on 13/1. Nab and Charlie were next and also began slowly, losing a wicket in their first over, before a flurry of runs, including five fours from Nab, took them to 52/2. Ansh and Sabir started well, adding 14, but tight bowling from Prab, Praf and Dharmesh pegged things back and the innings closed on 70/4.
Originals began brightly. Dan and Gordon put on 41 in their four overs, both registering personal bests in the league. Prab and Rudi made a steady start with seven in two overs against Ansh and Nab. Sabir and Ansh then struck in overs seven and eight, taking three wickets as the two overs yielded -5; the pair finished on 44/3. That left the final pair, Dharmesh and Praf, needing 27 to win, a tricky ask against quality bowling. They put on 23 in the first two overs, leaving four needed from the last two. Over eleven brought six, putting Originals ahead and Spirit needing wickets. Praf then batted out the last over without loss and the innings ended on 75/3.
Points: Originals 20, Spirit 5
Game two: Originals v Rockets
Rockets won the toss and elected to bat. Dharmesh and Phil G opened and started well with 22 in the first two overs, before two run-outs in the third by Rudi left them 15/2 going into the final over. Good hitting from Phil lifted them to 26/2 after four. Gus and Matty followed. Two fours and a six from Matty brought 14 in their first over, and the pair continued well, adding another 21 without loss to reach 61/2. Asanka and Kav batted sensibly, adding 23 for one wicket, and the innings closed on 84/3.
Dan and Gordon made 15 before tight overs from Dharmesh and Gus produced three runs for one wicket; the pair finished on 18/1. Prab and Rudi then had a difficult three overs, scoring three and losing two wickets, before a big over from Rudi — a six, two fours and a three — took the score to 38/3 after eight. Jack and Praf were last, needing 47 to win. Two wickets in over nine pushed the ask to 57 from the last three. Despite four fours and a six they could add only 43, and the final score was 71/5.
Points: Rockets 21, Originals 5
Game three: Fire v Superchargers
Fire won the toss and elected to bat. Kesh and Sid opened and found runs hard to come by; wickets fell regularly and they were 8/3 after their four overs, despite some lusty hitting from Sid late on. Next were the Walker brothers, who added 32 for three wickets with hard hitting and quick running. After eight overs the score was 40/6. Nipun and Shaman started well with 15 in over nine before James took two wickets in over ten to make it 53/8. Over eleven was fruitful, bringing 15, including two sixes from Nipun, and the final over added two more fours plus a wicket to take the score to 73/9.
James and Rod began Superchargers' chase with a six, but two wickets for Cammie pulled them back. The next three overs brought 17 and two further wickets: 17/4 after four. Hugo and Prab managed just the one run in over five, then scoring accelerated in over six with ten more; at halfway it was 28/4, behind the rate but not impossible. Four wickets in overs seven and eight left them 21/8, so the last pair needed 53 to win, an extremely tall order. Two wickets in over nine and, despite 15 in over ten, they could not recover the pace and finished on 43/12.
Points: Fire 24, Superchargers 9
Batters of the week
- Gordon Walker 27
- Matty Wills 25
- Gordon Brown 22
Bowlers of the week
- Keshav Bhatnagar 4-22
- Dharmesh 3-7
- Asanka 2-20
The Spirit loss gives the chasing teams a glimmer of hope that they can still win, but it is still in Spirit's hands. Originals and Rockets look to be battling for second place, and Superchargers prop up the table, though they have a chance to move up as they play two games next week.