MSC Orange are Inter-Club Cricket champions

Mpingwe Sports Club (MSC) Orange are Inter-Club 20/20 Cricket League champions after beating rivals MSC Silver by two runs at Indian Sports Club (ISC) in Blantyre on Sunday.

Orange batted first to make a total of 134 runs but Silver failed to match the score as they were all out after hitting 132 runs.

“It was a tight battle and it is quite relieving that we came out victorious,” marvelled Orange’s captain Khalil Badat after the match.

Ahmed Kara and Irfan Vadia were instrumental in Orange’s victory as they made individual contributions of 27 and 21 runs respectively. Man-of-the-match Wasim Lusaka also worked hard to thwart Silver’s chances of getting their hands on the crown after claiming three wickets for the eventual champions.

Although Silver vice-captain Aasif Rustam top scored with 31 runs, his individual effort was not good enough to get rid of Orange’s predictable advantage.

“Luck was not on our side today; we played with zeal and determination but still all that effort could not lead us to victory. All the same, we congratulate Orange for their success story,” said Rustam, who finished as the tournament’s best player with a total of 382 runs and seven wickets.

ISC’s Saylesh Jina emerged as the league’s best bowler for claiming 13 wickets whereas Orange’s Aasif Pispi was named the best batsman with 192 runs. Silver’s up-and-coming 13-year-old all-rounder Aaftab Saeed got the up-coming batsman accolade.

The league’s chairperson Shiraz Zaveri commended all the 12 teams that took part in the competition for their good conduct and thanked fellow committee members for the excellent organisation of the event. n