Ripples Ace Royals with Pace

A brilliant exhibition of pace bowling from the Alleppey Ripples’ seamers, Anand Joseph and Fazil Fanoos, rocked Trivandrum Royals as the hosts slumped to a 33-run defeat in the second match of the Kerala Cricket League (KCL) at the Greenfield Stadium on Tuesday.

The bowling effort also helped Alappuzha buck the trend of target setters losing the games in KCL.

Chasing 146 for victory, Trivandrum lost two wickets before they opened their account as Fanoos removed both Vishnu Raj and Rohan Prem for ducks. Not to be left behind, his new-ball partner, Anand, claimed a wicket each in his first three overs to leave Trivandrum tottering at 19 for five in the first powerplay.

Undeterred by the flurry of wickets, Trivandrum skipper Abdul Basith launched a blistering counter-attack by hitting a sizzling 31-ball 45 (4x4, 3x6). He was associated in a 70-run stand for the sixth wicket with MS Akhil, who made an equally effective 36-ball 38 (3x4, 1x6). But both got out in quick succession, giving Fanoos and Anand the opportunity to return to the attack and clean up the Trivandrum tail as they folded up for 112. While Anand finished with terrific figures of 4/7 from 3.1 overs, Fanoos had an equally impressive bowling spell of 4/16 from four overs.

Earlier, Alleppey relied on useful little contributions from their batting unit to post a competitive total of 145/8 in 20 overs on a two-paced pitch. Their top-scorer was Mohammed Azharuddeen (28) while Krishna Prasad (23) and Neel Sunny (21) also chipped in with the bat.

Kollam crush Calicut

In a one-sided contest, Kollam Sailors crushed Calicut Globstars by eight wickets. A three-wicket haul from pacer KM Asif helped Kollam restrict Calicut to 104 for nine in 20 overs. A quickfire unbeaten half-century from Abhishek Nair (61 off 47) helped Kollam overhaul the Calicut target in 16.4 overs.

Calicut lost wickets at regular intervals after being asked to take first strike by Kollam skipper Sachin Baby. Captain Rohan Kunnummal (6) was the first to go as he was castled by Asif. M Ajinas (1) followed his skipper soon to the pavilion as he could only spoon a catch to S Midhun at mid-on off Basil NP.

Part-time spinner Baby's two wickets hastened Calicut's slide. The only batter to show a semblance of resistance was opener Arun KA, who hit a 37-ball 38 (3x4, 2x6). Asif finished with figures of 3/31 while Basil and Baby claimed two wickets each.

It was only due to a late-order contribution from Abhijith Praveen (20 off 16 balls) that Calicut managed to post a score in excess of 100. But with Abhishek smashing three fours and four sixes in his power-packed half-century, the result was never in doubt as they coasted home losing just two wickets.

Brief scores: Calicut Globstars 104/9 in 20 overs (Arun KA 38, Abhijith Praveen 20, KM Asif 3/31) lost to Kollam Sailors 106/2 in 16.4 overs (Abhishek Nair 61*, Sachin Baby 19, Ibnul Afthab 1/14); Alleppey Ripples 145/8 in 20 overs (Mohammed Azharuddeen 28, Krishna Prasad 23, Akhin Sathar 2/22) beat Trivandrum Royals 112 all out in 18.1 overs (Abdul Basith 45, MS Akhil 38, Fazil Fanoos 4/16, Anand Joseph 4/7).