Swamibapa closing on title after thrashing Telca

Swamibapa A are one step closer to the Premier Division title after handing fellow title hopefuls Telca a 10 wicket thrashing that has effectively removed the latter from contention, for this year at least.

Telca won the toss and elected to bat first at the Ngara ground in a match officiated by International umpire Subhash Modi and Shanti Patel.

Peter Ongondo(1 wicket for 1 run) made a statement to the national selectors who left him out of many of the recent games in Zimbabwe with a masterclass of new-ball bowling and Nehemiah Odhiambo impressed with 3 wickets for 13 runs as Swamibapa sent Telca packing for just 72 runs. Lameck Onyango also picked up 2 wickets while tony Suji, Shem Obado and Elijah Otieno too 1 each. Maurice Ouma also impressed behind the stumps. Telca's innings lasted just 29.2 overs with fast bowler, Alfred Luseno top scoring with 25 runs.

Swamibapa's opening batsmen, Maurice Ouma(41 not out) and Francis Otieno (26 not out) batted well with a fine unbeaten and match winning partnership of 73 runs to give Swamibapa an emphatic and timely victory. With Stray Lions dropping points due to their match last week vs the struggling Sir Ali washed out, the title race is still very much open to the top 3 sides. All will be hoping that weather and international duty allow cricket to decide who will emerge 2009 champions.

Swamibapa A beat Kanbis A to consolidate lead

Early reports in see Swamibapa A beating Kanbis to strengthen their claim on this year's title. we do not yet have details of the game, but a Swamibapa win will take them that little bit closer while Kanbis will really have to pull out some big results to avoid what could well be a finish outside the top 2 - something hard to imagine even as recently as last year.

batting first, Kanbis gtwere bowled out for 197 with Nehemia Odhiambo taking 2wkts for 21 runs, Tony Suji, 3wkts for 22 runs, Shem Obado 2wkts for 43 runs, James Ngoche 2 wkts for 29 runs and Lamek Onyango 1 for 26.

.Swami started on a good note with Maurice Ouma 37 and Francis Otieno 32 but Kanbis kept up the pressure taking some cheap wickets. Nehemia Odhiambo rallied with 37 runs and Lameck Onyango scored 34 to bring Swamibapa closer to the target which Elijah Otieno (16*) reached with a boundry with 2 overs to go.

In other games, Jimmy Kamande (pictured right v Ireland in the IC), captain of Stray Lions A (20) lead his team to a fabulous win over Simba Union (3) at Peponi School Ground when beating them by a massive 224 runs. The match was officiated by Subhash Modi and David Odhiambo.

Stray Lions won the toss and elected to bat first and scored 388 runs for the loss of 7 wickets in 49 overs thanks mainly to Jimmy Kamande who lit up the proceedings with a remarkable century (127). He received very good support from David Obuya 78, Peter Kituku 45, Hiren Varaiya 39 , Nadeem Ahmed 25 and Steve Tikolo 20. Bowling honours for Simba Union were shared by their captain Gagandeep Singh 2 wickets for 66 runs and Chetan Sangrakar 2 wickets for 32 runs.

Simba Union were bowled out for 164 in 34.3 overs with fine resistance coming from a Sri Lankan born left handed Shezad Nizar with a commanding and strokeful 74 and Lucas Olouch 36. For Stray Lions Steve Tikolo (3/25), Darshit Shah (3/43) and Hiren Varaiya 2/29 were the most impressive and successful bowlers.

SCLYL A also won chasing down 264 to beat Sir Ali A.

Telca won their game v Kanbis B to complete a horror weekend for Kenya's most successful club. This win puts Telca in clear second place behind Swamibapa, though with games in hand against weak sides, Stray Lions A could still mount a challenge for the title in what is developing into the most close fought NPCA League in years. With 4 teams still in with a very possible chance of winning the tournament, could this be the year that domestic cricket finally gets its lustre back?

Odhiambo leads way as Swamibapa win

Early reports coming in from the first round of the NPCA League:

SUPER DIV:
Swamibapa starts on a high note beating Kanbis B by 173 runs: Nehemiah Odhiambo hitting a deserved 101 with 8 sixes and 5 fours with a supportive 60 from Kenya Captain Maurice Ouma and Shem Obando’s 25 helping Swamibapa to 254. Bowling honours for Kanbis were shared by Captain Gopal Vekaria 3/59 and Rohit Vekaria 2/53.

Odhiambo (pictured during the recent Intercontinental cup match v Ireland - photo courtesy Cricket Europe) then went on to take 6 wickets for 26 as his brother, James Ngoche, picked up 3 for 10 runs as Kanbis B faltered to 81 all out. Mansukh Jessani (16) and Jagdish Khetani (16) were the best of the Kanbis batsmen.
Report – Joseph Angara (Swamibapa), Subhash Modi (Umpire)

Simba Union won against Sir Ali by 7 wickets. Sir Ali won the toss and elected to bat scoring 127, a total that Simba chased down in just 19 overs.
Report – Abdulqadir Najmi (Simba Union)

Straylions A played its first match with Sri Cutchi Leva Patel Samaj in the Super League at Peponi School. SCLPS won the toss and elected to field first. David Obuya and Steve Tikolo opened the batting and they made a huge opening partnership of 266 in 36 overs. David Obuya got out for 77 and Steve Tikolo 170. Stray Lions' other main contributor was Peter Kituku who scored 29. Stray Lions ended with 346/6 in 50 overs. SCLPS started the batting after lunch and were all out for 142 in 23 overs. Darshit Shah took 5 Wickets, Hiren Varaiya took 3 wickets, Josphet Ababu and Andrew Mboya took one each.
Report - Thota Sreenivas (Stray Lions)

Kanbis A 252 (Rajesh Varsani 59, Arvind Halai 37, Ramesh Mepani 32, Vikram ? 2-44, Paul Anjere 2-50, Alfred Luseno 2-52)
beat Telca 206 (Thomas Odoyo 43, Newton Muthee 33, Prasanth ? 33, Rakep Patel 3-13, Rikesh Hirani 3-36, Ramesh Mepani 2-24)
by 46 runs
scorecard - Kanti Rabadia (Kanbis)


DIV 1:
Swamibapa B 250-8 defeated Kongonis Development XI 244-9 by 6 runs.
Report - Dominic Wesonga (Kongonis)

DIV II:
Straylions B played their first match with Golden XI in their Division B match at Highridge Primary School. Batting first, Golden XI were all out for 77. Ramesh Shamji took 5 wickets, Nadeem took 4 wickets and Girish Nair took one wicket. In Stray Lion's successful 77 run chase, Anand Ranganathan top scored with 45 runs.
Report - Thota Sreenivas (Stray Lions)

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31 teams prepare for NPCA League this weekend

As the national team return home to lick their wounds, there will be plenty of opportunity for them to prove why they are in the team and for pretenders to challenge for spots as the NPCA League gets underway this weekend.

There are 31 teams split across 4 division and while the nation's best players will doing battle in the Super Division, competition will be equally fierce all the way down to division III.

SUPER LEAGUE ENTRIES 2009.
Kanbis 'A'
Stray Lions 'A'
Swamibapa 'A'
Telca XI
Sir Ali 'A'
Simba Union 'A'
Kanbis 'B'
SCLYL 'A'

DIV I ENTRIES 2009
Nbi. Nookers 'A'
Swamibapa 'B'
Ruaraka 'A'
Premier
Ngara
Kongonis Dev
Nbi.Jafferys
Nbi.Gymkhana

DIV II ENTRIES 2009
Golden XI
Aga Khan
Qutbis
Goan Institue 'A'
Simba Union 'B'
SCLYL 'B'
Stray Lions 'B'
Sir Ali 'B'

Div III ENTRIES 2009
Parklands
Nbi.Nookers 'B'
Oshwal XI
Ruaraka 'B'
Aaryans
Goan Institute 'B'
Women's XI