Commonwealth Cricket League
A sensational maiden century by Sarun Zacharia of NYMSC Panthers went in vain as Kings Men held their nerves to seal a 15-run win in Commonwealth Cricket League match at Cunningham Park on July 12th 2014.
Sarun Zacharia struck his ton from 61 balls.
In scorching heat on Saturday, Kings Men decided to bat first and put up 247 in the allotted 25 overs. Kings Men openers made a steady start before losing Ralph for 17. Then came Calman at one down and started thrashing the bowling to all parts of the ground, along with Buckner. Buckner was out for 47. Calman continued his carnage and top-scored with a sizzling 81. White finished off the innings in style for Kings Men with a breezy 43, which took the Kings Men to a total that many would believe to be safe in a 25-over game. For the Panthers, Sarun Zacharia was the star with the ball as well, picking up 2 wickets. Amal Njaliyathu and Noble Thomas picked up one wicket each.
In reply, Panthers opened with their make-shift openers Sarun Zacharia and Ashutosh Sharma. The pair kept going at the required rate with ease and rattled the Kings Men bowling attack. Both Sarun Zacharia and Ashutosh Sharma were matching each other shot for shot in a 100-run opening partnership, going at a run rate of almost 10. Ashutosh Sharma went for a well made 44. But, Sarun continued his determined knock and along with Manu George, put on 75 for the second wicket partnership. Manu George was run out for 32 with the required rate creeping up.
Sarun continued to take on the bowling and took the them apart. Sarun and Tibin Thayil shared a 50-run partnership for the 3rd wicket. Sarun finally brought up his fighting century in 61 balls in the last over. But his ton wasn’t enough to take the Panthers over the line as the total turned out to be too much for the Panthers batsmen in the end.
Panthers ended their innings at 232/2 in 25 overs. It was a great fight from the Panthers batsmen, going at almost 10 runs per over while chasing throughout the innings. They came astonishingly close to pulling off a thrilling chase, but came up just short. Kings Men did extremely well to hold on to their nerves in the final stages of the match, where the Panthers innings was starting to look extremely threatening.