Cricket-Match-Special ... A forum for discussion

Not sure of the provenance of this competition or who it is benefiting but it’s always fun to see the old boys having a run out.

It must be said that it is odd that the tournament is running at the same time (and seemingly sharing player) with the Road Safety World Series 500 miles away.

Two teams, Gujarat and Mainpal, have played twice with the former winning both and the latter losing both. The tournament is rounded off by Bhilwara (1 win from 1 game) and India Capitals (1 loss from 1 game).

Having only retired three weeks ago, Gujarat’s Kevin O’Brien is proving the most destructive batter scoring the highest of the 2 centuries that have been scored across the two games.

In terms of bowlers it is another player that has only recently stepped out of the limelight that has excelled thus far. Fidel Edwards last played an international T20 game last year and has the best individual performance with his 4-29 for Bhilwara in their win against Manipal.

This game is no flash in the pan affair, with the final over a fortnight away.

We are now 10 games into this knockabout – albeit with two washed out.

India Capitals are the best unit so far with three wins from five. Their most recent win was against bottom of the table Manipal today. They also have the highest victory in terms of runs after setting Bhilwan a target of 198 and getting them all out for 120.

No century has been scored since Kevin O’Brien and Ashley Nurse both exchanged them in the opening game. The highest score in the interim was Zimbabwe’s Solomon Mire’s 82 in that big India win over Bhilwan.

Despite their bottom of the table Mohammad Kaif is the highest run scorer. The Uttar Pradesh alumni’s 196 runs is 23 more than anyone else. His teammate Dilwan Fernando is also impressing despite the losing ways of his team. He became the second player to score a fourfer. Two players are tied with 7 wickets apiece but veteran veteran Pravin Tambe’s has the lowest average at 11.71.

This tournament ended how it started; with the newly retired players excelling. India Capitals beat Bhilwara in the final courtesy of a 41 ball 82 from Ross Taylor – who had previously scored a 39 ball 84 against the same team in the qualifier on Sunday.
Irish eyes were smiling in the tournament from first to last as Kevin O’Brien’s opening night 106 set the tone for the batters and was not beaten throughout the rest of the series. Oddly enough the only two centuries scored in the whole tournament were in that game. The overall highest run scorer was fellow Irishmen William Porterfield who scored 267 across his 7 innings

Nobody really wowed with the ball throughout the tournament - potentially because the bowlers were of an older vintage than their willow-wielding brothers. Pravin Tambe nicked it t the end with 2-19 in the final to see him end with 11 wickets – 1 more than anyone else. Much like with the batters a high bar was set early in the tournament which wasn’t broken. Fidel Edwards 4-30 in the second match of the tournament could only be matched by Pune veteran Rahul Sharma in the final.

A fun little tournament that probably will be back next year.