Heritage and Foleys win school tournament
By Richard Boxall
Sunday’s final of the 2024 BAOFinancial Autumn T20 Cup presented by HurryCurry will be contested by MSN Punjab Lions and Markhor after both came through their semi-finals at the weekend. In Markhor’s case they also negotiated a quarter final match, where they beat Moufflons by 88 runs before scraping past Sri Lanka Lions by one run in the semi final, while the Punjab Lions beat Napa Kings by 7 wickets.
A couple of days earlier a schools competition hosted at Happy Valley by St John’s school saw the year 7-9 boys and girls of four schools competing under the supervision of Cyprus Cricket Federation.
In the boys’ event Heritage beat St Sohn’s by 80 runs while Foleys beat Silverline by 26, before Heritage won the final by 6 wickets. Notable individual performances came from Manos, Panos and Giorghios of Heritage, Phillip from Foleys and Kavin and Eitan of Silverline.
Foleys girls beat Silverline by 67 runs, while Heritage were 8-wicket winners over St John’s. Silverline overcame St John’s by 7 wickets to claim third place, while in the final Foleys beat Heritage amidst the rain showers by 20 runs. Players who performed well were Zoi, Sofia, Ioanna, Ekaterina and Emilia from Foleys, and Maria and Angelina of Heritage.
Men’s T20 quarter final – Markhor 203-5 beat Moufflons 115 by 88 runs
A 164-run partnership for the second wicket between Shahzad (105 in 51 balls, with 9 sixes) and Malik (47) dominated the Markhor innings, though both batsmen were dropped several times. Moufflons had nothing to offer in reply and were bowled out inside 13 overs, with Arslan taking 3-22.
Men’s T20 semi final – Markhor 163-9 beat Sri Lanka Lions 162-9 by one run
In a gripping match which was spoiled by some poor on-field behaviour, Markhor overcame Sri Lanka Lions by the tightest possible margin. After Kavindu (38) and Prasad (33) had brought the Lions to a position where they required 20 from the last 3 overs, Tanveer bowled a wicket maiden to swing the game in Markhor’s favour. Lahiru and Kamal Raiz kept fighting, but with 3 needed from the last ball – or 2 for a tie and a super over – the batters could only manage a single. Tanveer finished with 3-25 to follow his 20 with the bat in support of Talha’s unbeaten 53, after opener Zeeshan had made 40.
Men’s T20 semi final – MSN Punjab Lions 101-3 beat Napa Kings 99-6 by 7 wickets
Despite Qareeb’s 39 Napa Kings were unable to make any headway against the Lions bowling attack, in which Supun and Buddika were especially economical, and a target of 5 runs an over was going to be hard to defend. Lions’ opener Nalin played the anchor role with 21 not out, while his more aggressive teammates Mangala, Zeeshan, Chandana and Taranjit scored quickly enough to bring victory in the 14th over.
