KCL South Indoor – Week 2 Match Report

KCL Indoor Week 2 Report

The remaining four sides of the KCL had their opportunity this weekend to kickstart their season’s campaign. The knights, Defenders, Royals and Challengers all featured in simultaneous double headers at Tolworth.

Game 1: Trustworthy Knights v Defenders of Peace

The Defenders breezed past a Knights side finding their way into tournament with a 3 wicket win chasing 101 in the final over of the chase. Some respectable contributions by the Knights batters helped push the score past 100, but this wasn’t going to be enough against the current outdoor champions who timed their chase perfectly to secure the win.

Game 2: Courageous Challengers v Victorious Royals

One of the more closely fought contests so far this year in the competition. The Royals having done a splendid job with the ball had the Challengers on the ropes with the score at 6-43 as the top order for the CC had totally collapsed. The not out retired rules worked in the favour of the Challengers as the last pair for them had the absolute freedom to bat without restraints, and captain Tahir Kang’s 40* with the support of Faizanullah (27*) pushed the team’s total to 117-6. A score they would happily take being close to shot out at around 6 wickets down. Mohammad Talha (32* off 10) provided a good start for the Royals, but the middle order struggling to settle in and regularly losing wickets did not allow the Royals to get a firm grip on the game. Eventually they fell short by 6 runs with the Challengers pulling off a hard fought win being on the brink of certain defeat!

Game 3: Victorious Royals v Trustworthy Knights

Both sides looking to get their first points on the board, the Royals looked more determined with all batters camping in and posting a daunting total. Given the perfect start by Rehman Manzoor hitting 4 sixes off 5 balls, 4 other batters (Talha, Babar, Taha and Aqib) added retirement not out scores to push the total to 154 in their 8 overs. Needing close to 20 per over from the start, the Knights were on track having racked close to 60 in their first 3 overs. However, insufficient contributions through the middle didn’t allow them to continue the momentum required throughout and eventually they fell 32 runs of the target.

Game 4: Courageous Challengers v Defenders of Peace

A rivalry that has been brewing since last year’s outdoor final, the Challengers once again didn’t find stability from most of their batters, and this time Rizwan Baloch played the lone hand (37*) with the help of Naufil (24*) to post another score of 100-6 in 8 overs. What should have been a comfortable chase for the Defenders was made to feel extremely difficult for the Challengers, as a total collapse lead to a paltry score of 50 all out in 6.2 overs. Hafiz Marfoud producing an unbelievable spell of 4 wickets in one over for 4 runs completely breaking the back of the chase!

The second weekend of the indoor season concluded with the Challengers registering 2 wins out of two, whilst the Royals and Defenders also getting off the mark with a win out of their 2 matches. The trustworthy Knights haven’t had the ideal start this weekend to their campaign, but then again things can change very quickly with better performances going forward in the tournament!