Cricket Maxway win after all-round show

Cricket Maxway wrapped up the tail as the Lions folded on 98 in 18 overs to notch a deserving victory.

Cricket Maxway trounced ATG Lions. — Supplied photo

Dubai — Riding on an all-round performance, Cricket Maxway trounced ATG Lions for a 53-run victory  in the fourth match of the 14th Dulsco Ramadan Cricket tournament at the Zabeel Park Cricket Ground, Zabeel Park, Dubai, on Monday night. The tournament is organized by Dulsco Sports Club under the auspices of Dubai Sports Council. Batting first, Cricket Maxway put on 151 on the board and then skitted out the Lions for 98 in 18 overs.

Captain Shomaresh Shetty’s decision to bat first was fully justified by Cricket Maxway openers as they came out all guns blazing and dominated the rival bowlers right from the start. Clint Berkenshaw and Faisal H. sent their side off to a flyer with a wonderful display of attacking shots. Both players hit the ball all around the park as the score reached 42 in just the third over before Faisal made his exit. He faced nine balls for his 14 which contained a four and six and ensured that Cricket Maxway had got the right platform to make a challenging score.

Berkenshaw was joined by Nagarjuna Hegde and they piled more misery on the rival bowlers. The duo tore into the Lions bowling attack with an impressive exhibition of strokeplay. They were involved in a 42-run partnership and things were looking bright for Cricket Maxway untill both fell on the same score making it 94-3. Two more wickets tumbled in quick succession and Cricket Maxway were in more trouble at 98-6. It was then left to Jay Joshi and Mudasir Wazir to lend solidity to the score with some fisty blows down the order. Mudasir was more severe on the rival bowlers, sending three hits over the fence in his entertaining innings of 31 which came off just 17 balls. Joshi made a 16-ball 16 as Cricket Maxway folded on 151 in 18.4 overs. Ansar was the most successful bowler with 3-19.

Chasing 152 for a win, the Lions began on a bright note but lost wickets at regular interval to put themselves on the backfoot. They failed to stitch any substantial partnership though three of their batsmen got into the double figures. After Murali’s good start in which he made 19 off 9 balls, hitting two sixes and a four, Nasir (27), and Sameer (10)  got themselves in, but failed to make it count in the final analysis. Also three run-outs hampered their cause.

Cricket Maxway wrapped up the tail as the Lions folded on 98 in 18 overs to notch a deserving victory. Subin Suleiman, Berkenshaw and Srikanth claimed two wickets each.