The second round of matches got underway with a Division 2 game between the Eagles and Hurricanes. Md Ruyel Miah (3/13), Mojammel Hridoy (2/16) and Wahidur Rahman (3/22) bowled well as the Eagles were dismissed for 110, Raheel Zaman making 21 and Abdul Rafeh Rahat 20. The Hurricanes reached the target with 9 balls and 3 wickets to spare, Wahidur Rahman top scoring with 21.
Scorecard.
In the second match of the day, Division 1 got underway with NSK taking on the Tigers. The Tigers batted first and Ali Raza again showed he is in exceptional form with his second century of the summer scoring exactly 100 from 60 balls, made out of the first 155 runs. M Zilani (25) and Imran Ahmed (21) supplied useful support as the Tigers totalled 181/6 from 20 overs.
NSK made a solid start in reply, led by 30 from Vaishal Patel, but lost wickets. The Tigers looked favourites at one point but Nick Baxter smashed 72* from 36 balls, and with Shami Khan (31*) took NSK to a last over victory.
Scorecard
The final match of the day saw another century as Rahul Vashishtha hit 108 from 49 balls to lead Avengers to a resounding 8 wicket win over Royal Challengers. This was the 7th century of the summer, and Rahul’s 13th in Newfoundland and Labrador. Earlier Royal Challengers made 157/7 with Akash Deep Singh making 50 and Maanik Arora 31.
Scorecard
The Hurricanes-Stars game was delayed by weather, but when play started, the Hurricanes made 155/9, Shakib Ruhul top scoring with 25. H Kabbo took 3 witckets for the Stars. The Stars made 91/8 in reply, Shakib Ruel again leading the way for the Hurricanes with 4/18.
Scorecard
In Sunday’s second match, NSK played Royal Challengers. This was a well contested match that could have gone either way. Royal Challengers batted first, and looked to be building a good total, reaching 96/1 before Ranvir Rana (25) was run out following some smart fielding by Arif Shaikh. Royal Challengers seemed well set for a big total when Arif turned the course of the match- with his first three balls he had Maanik Arora (58) caught in the deep, bowled Akash Singh, and then caught Bhupesh Sharma to complete a hat-trick (a list of hat tricks in Newfoundland cricket can be found on our honours board). Arif took another wicket, finishing with 4/9, but Royal Challengers posted a competitive total of 160/7.
When NSK batted, Talha Riaz fell to one of three outstanding catches by Akash Singh, diving full length in the deep, then Mukul Dhawan (2/16) bowled Vaishal Patel and Purvi Kalyan to reduce NSK to 17/3. Rakesh Negi (38) and Nick Baxter (46) put on 82 for the 5th wicket, but both were out with 35 runs still needed. Shami Khan and Arif each made 17 to take NSK to the win with 3.1 overs left.
Scorecard
Bhupesh Sharma captained the Royal Challengers in his final game for the club before he moves out of province. Bhupesh has been an important part of the rise of the Royal Challengers from their founding three years back, and will be much missed in the NL cricketing community. We wish him all the best in the future.