MPL teams play it out at Valencia Cricket Oval

At 09:00, White River Challengers faced Malelane Cricket Club. The former won the toss and elected to bat first. They were in trouble early in their innings after losing two wickets in the first two overs of the game.

Senior players Irshad Patel and Faizel Das managed to resurrect the innings for White River Challengers with some superb power hitting. Das powered his way to a fine 55 runs off just 28 balls.

This propelled them to a total of 175 runs in 20 overs.

The pick of the bowlers for Malelane Cricket Club was rookie player Hamza Patel, who claimed two wickets in his four overs and conceded 24 runs.

They, chasing 176 runs for victory, were no match for the bowlers of White River Challengers.

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Wickets fell regularly, with only Shoyab Patel (56 runs of 37 balls) offering some resistance. Malelane Cricket Club only managed to reach 121 runs in their 20 overs.

Das conceded only 6 runs in his bowling spell and picked up two wickets.

An all-round good day on the field saw him claim the man of the match prize and a bonus point win for White River Challengers.

As the Lowveld heat peaked at around 12:00, the second game of the day got under way.

Log leaders, Warriors Cricket Club took on University of Mpumalanga.

Batting first on a pitch that has now become a batting paradise, Warriors came out blazing from the very first over.

This aggressive approach saw Warriors Cricket Club lose wickets regularly, but they managed to maintain a high run-rate.

A few of the batsman scored in the thirties, with only Sakib “Gayle” Patel managing to get close to a half-century.

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As we have come to expect from Sakib Patel, the hard-hitting batsmen raced to 42 runs off just 20 balls before he was dismissed by Thabiso Sibiya.

Warriors posted a respectable 201 runs in their allotted 20 overs. With the ball, they proved yet again why they are league favourites, as they restricted University of Mpumalanga to 103 runs in 20 overs.

The only notable score for the “Clever Boys” was Vonani Mongwe, who scored 24 runs.

Warriors bowlers shared the wickets, with Siraj Mangroli picking up three wickets in his four overs.

The bonus point win saw Warriors Cricket Club strengthen their spot on the top of the log, with a guaranteed spot in the playoffs.

Patel scooped up his second man of the match prize of the tournament.

To conclude the triple-header, Valencia All Stars hosted Kings XI Cricket Club in a must-win game for the latter.

Batting first, Kings XI found the bowling strength of Valencia All Stars too hot to handle.

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The rookie “spin twins” of Valencia All Stars, Devon du Plessis and Suhail Patel, spun a web around the Kings XI batsmen as the two young guns picked up six wickets.

Kings XI batsmen were all sent back to the clubhouse for only 92 runs. Suhail Patel was pick of the bowlers for Valencia All Stars, returning figures of four overs, four wickets, 15 runs.

He was well supported by Du Plessis, who claimed two wickets and conceded just 13 runs in his four overs.

Chasing 93 runs to win, Valencia All Stars’ opening batsmen, Maaz Randera (49*) and Riyaad Mayet (26*), made light weight of the Kings XI bowlers.

The opening pair reached the target in the seventh over as Valencia All Stars romped home with a prolific bonus point win.

Rookie player, Suhail claimed the man of the match prize for his superb bowling performance.

As thousands of small white butterflies flew across the field throughout the day and disappeared in to the distance, so did Kings XI’s chances of making the playoffs, which will take place at the end of February.