Battle lines drawn after third place play-off
Playing in the third place play-offs of the City Cellular and Electronic Night League, Asians faced off against the impressive newcomers, Underdogs.
Before the Proteas inspired the nation with the unbelievable performance on Sunday and Bafana Bafana lost out on an easy three point victory against Algeria in the African Cup of Nations (AFCON), the Northern District Cricket Association (NDCA) played its first game of the year.
Playing in the third place play-offs of the City Cellular and Electronic Night League, Asians faced off against the impressive newcomers, Underdogs.
Every so often the underdog has the ability to topple the giant, in a seemingly David and Goliath rerun. This was not the case last week Tuesday, although victory could have easily swayed to Underdogs.
The match was undeniably an extremely close contest, with Asians claiming victory by a small margin of just two runs.
Asians was the first team to take the stand at the crease. Pressure early on from Underdogs’ bowlers meant that Asians had a hard time to post an impressive score.
Early wickets and consistent bowling from Underdogs had many of Asians’ batsmen scrambling.
Relying on the team’s key batsmen such as Altaf Topia and Sohail Gorie, Asians managed to post a respectable and defendable total of 120 runs.
Although the total was one the formidable Underdogs side could have reached, the team’s batsmen fell to early wickets from the excellent pace bowling of Asians.
Mohammed Moola was quite possibly Underdogs’ batsman of the evening, holding his spot at the crease for most of the game, and allowing the runs to slowly tick ahead, while many of his teamates lost their wickets around him.
Asians claimed the third place spot on the league table with this two-run victory and many NDCA fans are eagerly awaiting the finals between Paradise and SAPS.
SAPS is the current reigning champion and has been placed in a similar position as the 2013/2014 league as the team once again plays against Paradise for the trophy, bragging rights and a familiar feeling.
Leading from the helm, SAPS captain, Imraan Gafhoor will be hoping to once again win the league with his team, after its sloppy start to the season last year.
Paradise has seen vast improvement in its game during the course of the season with batsman Ibrahim Khan stepping up to the plate and ensuring his team always has a fighting chance.
Paradise will be hoping to capitalise on the somewhat inconsistency of the SAPS batting order to claim victory in this year’s final.
