Cyprus Cricket News

Mustangs win Spring T20

Mustangs re-established their position as top team in Cyprus by winning the Spring T20 competition, defeating Punjab Lions by 9 runs in an exciting final at Tochni.

The top four teams from the league phase of the competition met in the semi finals the week before. Punjab Lions, who finished top, thrashed Moufflons by 9 wickets, while second-placed Mustangs comfortably got past Sri Lankans by 38 runs, setting up a final between the two best teams, who had only lost twice each during the season.

Mustangs chose to bat first and made a satisfactory 156 for 9 from their 20 overs. Jeewan started in great form, and although he slowed down later, his 57 runs formed the backbone of the innings, greatly assisted by the 40 extras conceded by the Lions. Satnam was the pick of the bowlers with 2 for 18 from his 4 overs.

The Punjab Lions reply also relied heavily on an opening batsman, in this case Tiwary who made an excellent 52. Five other batsmen made double figures but no-one stayed to finish the job. For Mustangs Qasim took 3 wickets and Vikas 2, but the key bowling came from Dogar with 1 for 15 from 4 overs and Brar, 1 for 19 from 3.3. The batsmen were just not able to score quickly enough off this pair, and the innings ended at 147 all out with 3 balls remaining.

A happy Dogar received the winners' trophy for Mustangs, while Satnam collected the trophy for Punjab Lions as winners of the league phase. The following awards were also presented:

Spirit of cricket - Akrotiri, Dhekelia Poachers, Moufflons

Scoring award - Sri Lankans

Best batsman - Mehran (Moufflons) - 620 runs

Best bowler - Satnam (Punjab Lions) - 24 wickets

Most Valuable Player - Mangala (Sri Lankans) - 102.97 points in the CricHQ MVP standings

The next competition will be a 40-over league starting on 16 September - details soon.

Cyprus' cricketers are defying the summer heat to practise ahead of their tour of the Netherlands. The tour is to compete in the ICC World T20 Europe Qualifier and runs from the 27th August until 3rd September. The squad for the tour was recently announced:

Muhammad Husain (Captain) (Moufflons), Mike Kyriakou (Vice Captain) (Fellows), Abdul Manan (Nicosia Thunder), Azan Baig (Gladiators), Balbir Singh (Fellows), Harvinder Singh (Punjab Lions), Mangala Gunasekara (Sri Lankans), Md Rafiqul (Moufflons), Mohsin Raza (Nicosia Thunder), Nalin Gamage (Sri Lankans), Nalin Sachitra (Sri Lanka Lions), Ruwan Manawasinha (Sri Lanka Lions), Shoaib Ahmed (Nicosia Thunder), WCP Wellage (Sri Lankans)

The 4 reserves are:

Iftekar Jaman (Punjab Lions), Kamal Raiz (Sri Lanka Lions), Nauman Shafique (Gladiators) and Niroshan Pelawattha (Fellows) 

Amdocs (fielding) vs Mustangs at Tochni on the first day of club cricket at the ground

The first club games have been played at the CCA ground at Tochni. Moufflons beat Fellows by 7 wickets and, in a much closer game, Amdocs beat Mustangs - also by 7 wickets. Match reports are here. 

Richard Steenhuis has prepared a "slideshow" showing the story of the ground - from farmer's field to cricket ground.

Nicosia Thunder beat Cyprus Lions by 3 wickets to win the Creditwest All Cyprus Trophy. For a full match report see here (leaves this website).