Ali stars as Aces steal show at Dar tourney

Dar es Salaam. Aces B cricketers registered a 61-run win over Telegu Royals in the Division B game of this year’s Kazim Nasser Memorial Challenge at the University of Dar es Salaam ground.

Muzamil Ali was the best performer for Aces B, in which he notched 74 runs off 68 balls.

Aces B went in to bat first and scored 168 runs all out in 29.4 overs. Ali led the team’s pursuit of a convincing total, nailing three sixes and as many boundaries to eventually end as the top run-getter in the innings.

Hasnain Haidary’s 22 runs in 17 balls, Azim Thakur’s 22 runs from as many balls and Imran Khan’s 16 runs from 14 balls were the other meaningful contribution in the team’s total.

Telegu Royals’ Surya, Busi, Sukur and Rao took two wickets each but their efforts did little to prevent Aces B from posting the imposing total.

Surya conceded 19 runs in six overs, Busi, Sukur and Rao leaked 33, 24 and 23runs respectively.

Telegu Royals found the going tough in the chase and were, in the end, skittled for 107 runs in 24 overs.

Suman ended as the team’s top run getter with 24 runs off 23 balls, Surya and Sukur chipped in with 26-ball 16 and 11 runs off 15 balls respectively.

Aces B, who recently secured sponsorship from Pepsi Company, made their desire to claim a convincing win known, as they unleashed spin and medium pace attack to foil Telegu Royals’ chase.

Medium pacers Goodluck Tandika and Sadaf Saifee stood out of the rest of Aces B’s bowlers by taking four wickets apiece in five and six overs respectively.

The day’s other game saw Boom Boom make short work of Caravans with eight-wicket win over the latter.

Caravans were made to pay for their poor batting showing, in which they were bowled out for mere 63 runs in 18.5 overs after having had the opportunity to bat first.

Nitesh registered 14 runs, Ram and Sobin scored 13 and nine runs respectively in the innings.

Nirav led Boom Boom’s bowling onslaught by registering an impressive figure of four wickets for nine runs in three overs, spinner Tambwe Rashid took two wickets for 17 runs in six overs and Imtiaz took three wickets for six runs in two overs.

They were unperturbed by the early dismissal of Ejaz, who posted six runs, as Yassin partnered Sultan to catapult the team to the win.

Ratheesh and Praveen took one wicket apiece for six and eight runs respectively for the eventual losers.

Dar es Salaam Regional Cricket Committee (DRCC) has organized the competition in a bid to step up promotion of the sport domestically.