Plipdeco only needed three overs to overhaul a struggling Arcelor Mittal team yesterday as action continued in the SIS Industrial Cricket League.
Batting first, Mittal could only forge a moderate 35 runs from their ten overs as they struggled to negotiate Plipdeco's bowling attack.
Jason Douglas was the only resistance in a batting lineup that never fired; he managed 10 runs, including the lone boundary of the innings. Zaffer Mohammed was Plipdeco's main destroyer with the ball, claiming three wickets for just seven runs in his two overs.
Plipdeco made light work of their target and sounded a warning to the other teams in their Group. When Tarandath Beepat was bowled for a second ball duck in the first over, opener Anthony Ramroop was joined by Antonio Aziz and the pair took the game away from Mittal in 17 balls. Aziz's knock of 25 not out lasted just 8 balls and included four sixes as he led his team to a comfortable victory. Plipdeco's next test will be a hard one on May 21 as they face defending champions and a yet to be defeated T&TEC team who have scored in excess of 100 runs in their last two matches.
Earlier in the week, after a humiliating 53-run defeat at the hands of Group B leaders, PCS Nitrogen, Super Industrial Services bounced back on Monday with a crushing victory over Industrial Gases Limited as teams continue to jostle for position midway through the group stage. Choosing to bat first on a ground at California that has proven to yield big scores so far, SIS got an excellent start from openers Dinesh Rambajhan and Roger Williams. The pair picked apart the IGL bowling attack early and produced a 45 run opening stance before Williams was out caught behind off the bowling of captain Kareem Joseph for a well played 27. Two wickets fell in quick succession as IGL fought back but they did little in the way of slowing down the run rate. With 58 runs on the board in the fifth over, S. Ragbir was joined by SIS captain Dianand Mahase and the pair plundered IGL for 46 runs before their partnership was broken by J. Dowridge. Ragbir was especially aggressive, blasting five sixes in his inning high 37. SIS eventually closed on a mammoth 136 in their ten overs.
IGL faltered early in their reply, losing their first wicket for just four runs. Wickets fell steadily after that as SIS bowled well and kept IGL's big hitters at bay. Captain Kareem Joseph top scored with 11 runs and offered the most resistance in a batting lineup that lasted their quota of overs but never fired with the bat.
Over at the Plipdeco Ground, Yara also had a run-fest as they piled it on Group A's stellar placed Phoenix Park Gas Processors batting first. Openers Adesh Tokhai and R. Surujbally put on a 65 run opening partnership from just 30 balls before Tokhai went caught off the bowling of Rajendra Narine for 37. Yara's top three batsmen accounted for 98 runs and even though PPGPL continued to get wickets, the runs kept flowing as Yara closed on 123 for 6 wickets. PPGPL never came close. They managed 25 runs in just seven overs as they were unsuccessful in navigating Yara's bowling attack and remain winless after two matches.
SCORES
Plipdeco Ground
Arcelor Mittal 35/8 (J Douglas 10, Z Mohammed 3/7, K Leacock 1/6)
vs Plipdeco 36/2 (2.5 overs) (A. Aziz 25no, W Diett 1/3, M Manoo 1/32)
Result: Plipdeco won by 8 wickets
Man of the Match: Antonio Aziz
Plipdeco Ground
Yara 123/6 (A Tookhai 37, R. Surujbally 31, L Charlie 2/16, A. Ramnath 1/11)
vs PPGPL 25 all out (N Mahabir 9, R. Surujbally 2/2, A Ramnarine 2/7)
Result: Yara won by 98 runs
Man of the Match: R Surujbally
California Ground
SIS 136/7 (S Ragbir 37, R Williams 27, K Joseph 2/23)
vs IGL 39/8 (K Joseph 11, S. Ragbir 2/8, R. Williams 1/3)
Result: SIS won by 97 runs
Man of the Match: S Ragbir
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