KLCC go on top; breeze for defending champions Silver State

KUALA Lumpur Cricket Club (KLCC) catapulted to the top of the Navaratnam Shield following back-to-back wins while defending champions Silver State Cricket Club admonished Knights XI in their opening match.

Zeeshan Khan’s KLCC defeated debutants and title pretenders Frontiers by four wickets at the Royal Selangor Club ground on Saturday, 24 January and followed up with a 67 runs win over Kelab PJ at the Selangor Turf Club on Sunday to go top of the table standings with nine points from four matches. After an early setback of losing four wickets for only 18 runs on the board, Sri Lankan siblings Umeer and Usama Yunos rescued Frontiers with 26 runs respectively and add to dad Yunos Ismail’s 10 runs and Kedah CA president Ahmad Feizal Tajuddin’s knock of 14 runs Frontiers crawled to 110 in the mandatory 20 overs.

	Teams	P	W	D	L	Points
1	Kuala Lumpur CC	4	3	0	1	9
2	Royal Selangor Club	2	2	0	0	6
3	Kelawar Cricket Club	3	2	0	1	6
3	SOBA CC	3	2	0	1	6
4	Club Aman	1	1	0	0	3
4	Silver State CC	1	1	0	0	3
5	Frontiers	2	1	0	1	3
5	Kinrara CC	2	1	0	1	3
6	Kelab Petaling Jaya	2	0	2	0	0
6	Knights’ XI	2	0	0	2	0
6	Malaysian Airlines Mas)	2	0	0	2	0
6	Old Putera	2	0	0	2	0

Zahid Iqbal (2-12), Zeeshan (1-19), Bukit Jalil sports School boy Mohd Fitri (2-26) were the wicket takers. In reply, KLCC raced to 111 for the loss of six wickets in 18 overs, averaging 6.17 runs an over. Zeeshan scored 22 runs before being out leg before wicket to Bashir Ahmad. Ahmad Ali was unbeaten on 25 and Raymond Chan picked 18 runs en route to KLCC victory.

On Sunday, KLCC marched to the top with a calculated 67 runs victory over PJ Club at the Selangor Turf Club ground. Put in to bat first, KL was restricted to 127 runs in 18.4 overs. Mohammed Ahmad top scored 89 before being caught by Nelson Sundraj. Derek Michael Duraisingam returned figures of 2-23, Tamil Chelvam (1-28), M. Velmurugan (1-6) , Sanjay Rajaratnam (1-30) and Abilash Raj took 5 for 26.

Kelab PJ conceded defeat when they were all out for 60 runs in 18.2 overs - averaging 3.27 runs per over. Tamil Chelvam and Harinderjit Singh managed to reach double figures of 10 and11 runs respectively. Zahid Iqbal took 2 wickets for 7 runs, Mohd Fitri grabbed 2 for 20, Sameer Shaik 2-9, Ahmad Ali 2-5, Mohammed Ahmed took 1 for 9 and Muhd Ali 1-2. There were 12 bowling extras and 2 fielding extras.

It was Kelab PJ’s second defeat, having lost by three wickets to Club Aman.

An energetic 28 runs from Conrad Young gave SSCC the much needed start as they mount a swerious challenge defending the title, strolling to eight wickets victory over Knights XI in their opening match in the league. Electing to bat first, Knights failed to live up to their role as elite warriors as they careened to a 67 total in 13.5 overs. Kasiraman Munusamy (15) and Karthikeyan Loganathan (28 not out) held the innings together with doubles figures.

In reply, SSCC needed just nine overs to surpass the target with a loss of two wickets.

Royal Selangor Club moved up to second in the table standings with six points following a nine-wicket win over Malaysian Airlines on home turf. MAS, put in to bat, scored 102 runs in 19 overs, averaging 5.37 runs an over. Nikesh Menon shined with bat (45 not out) and ball (2-21) and Arithra Dutta (2-18) were the top wicket takers.  S. Haren added 31 as RSC raced to victory by the 11^th over.

Elsewhere, Kelawar overcame an absorbing run-chase from SOBA before pulling off victory by 21 runs in a nail-biting finish. Kelawar were 174-6, averaging 8.7 runs an over. Rohit Gunavarthhe scored 54, Andy Murray 30 runs and Scot Ferguson scored 26. SOBA could only post 153-9, averaging 7.65 runs an over. Mohamed Asif knocked a half century (69) and Fahad Safdar 22.

Kelab Aman, buoyed by 26 runs from Sanjeev Singh and B. Ramani (18), also began their campaign on a winning note against Kelab PJ. Electing to bat first, Kelab PJ batting machinery collapsed to a low score of 95-8, averaging 4.75 runs per over. Abilash Sugunan top scored with an unbeaten 36 and Chetan Singh Randhawa scored 17. Sudesh Pan took 4 wickets at four runs a piece, Ravinderjit Singh (2-15), Sanjeev (1-4) and Mandeep Singh (1-20). There were 15 bowling extras and 3 fielding extras.

In reply, Kelab Aman scored 97 for the loss of seven wickets in 19.1 overs, averaging 5.06 runs per over. Tamil Chelvam took two wickets for 22 runs, Vell Murugan 2-17, Sivananthan Gopal Krishnan (1-17) and S. Abilash 1-19. There were 12 bowling extras and 1 fielding extra.

Old Putera, the only team in the league with a 100 per cent record of local players in the squad including five from the Boys Wing of the Royal Military College, failed to chase a winning target of 188 runs set by Kinrara Cricket Club at the STC ground. Old Putera were dismissed for 111 runs, thus giving Kinrara victory by 76 runs.

Kinrara had elected to bat first and scored 187-4 in 20 overs, averaging 9.35 runs per over. Arfat Malik was bowled by Mohd Anis for 23 runs, Awas Malik out caught for 30, Sivaramakrishna bowled by Amza for 63, Shameem out leg before for 20 and Umer Farood unbeaten on 19. Mohd Anis returned bowling figures of 1-29; Mohd Amza (1-48), Julian (1-23), Hairi (1-18).  There were 23 bowling extras and 3 fielding extras.

Old Putera scored 111 for the loss of 6 wickets, averaging 5.55 runs per over. Ahmad Faris Afiq was out caught for 16. Mohd Anis scored 11 and Mohd Amza unbeaten on 34. Salman had bowling figures of 1-31, Shameem 1-15, Ahmad Raiz 1-11, Awas Malik 2-11 and Mahendran Balachandran 1-16.