Akram Chand and Nabil Masters were unbeaten as Tladi beat Southern Rocks by 7 wickets to win their first game of the Botswana Cricket Association (BCA) T20 tournament.
In a game played at the BCA Oval on Sunday afternoon, Chand and Masters scored 86 and 31 runs respectively as Tladi annihilated Southern Rocks with 3.2 overs to spare. Going into the game, Southern Rocks won the toss and elected to bat first.
The team then went on to score only 144 runs for the loss of six wickets in their allotted 20 overs. Abdulla Shaik and Arif Melek top scored for the Lobatse/Kanye team, both hitting 46 and 34 runs respectively.
Despite managing to finish their inning with at least four wickets to spare, Southern Rocks were undone by the Tladi bowlers and fielders as they restricted them to a manageable run rate.
Karabo Modise and Aditya Rangaswamy were the pick of bowlers for Tladi, with Modise taking 2 wickets for 25 runs in his 4 over spell with the ball while Rangaswamy took a single wicket for 26 runs.
Chasing a surmountable 144 runs total, Tladi, who were clothed in pink outfits in support of cancer needed just 16.4 overs to surpass the mark.
Despite Southern Rocks’ bowlers trying hard to contain Tladi, there was little they could do as Chand and Masters were ruthless with the bat in their hands. Chand in particular was a standout player as he hit 86 runs from 49 balls to help- his team past the finish line.
Chand, who scooped the game’s player of the match for his time with the bat, was ably assisted by Master who hit an unbeaten 31 runs from 21 balls. In another BCA T20 game played earlier on the day, Ditlhase beat Shining Stars by 10 wickets to ensure they started this season’s tournament on a winning note.
Chasing a less daunting 105 runs in 20 overs from Ditlhase, who had won the toss and opted to bat first, Ditlhase made short work of the task at hand, finishing it without losing a wicket and with 9.2 overs to spare.
It was the top order batting duo of Sooraj Nair and Ahqlaq Raja who saw off Shining Stars as they starred with the bat. Nair, who was voted man of the match, scored an unbeaten 60 runs from 34 balls while his partner at the crease, Raja hit an unbeaten 40 runs from 29 balls. The BCA T20 tournament will continue this coming Sunday at the BCA oval.
