Supreme Cricket Club cruised to an emphatic 69 runs victory against Carel Super Kings (CSK) in the finals of the New Year Invitational T20 league to lift the giant trophy on Sunday, March 12, 2023 at the Achimota Cricket Oval C.
It was a final that had so much expectations, with all the odds against Supreme, while Carel Super Kings stood tall in the statistics as well as head-to-head.
Captain of Supreme, Obed Harvey prayed to win toss when the coin was flipped by his opponent, Selvaraj Chockalingam. Supreme opted to bat first and openers, James Vifah and Samson Awe Awiah got unto a good start for Supreme.
After two overs, Supreme had 24 runs, but just on the 2.2 over, Samson was caught behind by Joseph Kwame Theodore from Venkatesh delivery. The fall of wickets kept coming at intervals while James Vifah stayed on to partner Eyram Kekeli Afutu, Aziz Sualley, Obed Harvey, Bernard Kotey, Awudu Dramani, Thomas Bakiweyem, before his dismissal on the 18th over, which paved way for Nii Ayitey Bruce-Okine, as he spent 93 minutes to produce 49(41).
While James was doing well in the batting performance, Michael Aboagye had a great time bowling, as he took Michael Aboagye 4.0-0-22-4.
In 104 minutes, Supreme scored 134/8 and knew, they had a work to do in the second innings. Carel Super Kings didn’t come to the party, as Supreme used 69 minutes to sweep them all out for 65 runs in 13.4 overs.
The woes of CSK started with captain Selvaraj Chockalingam on the 2.2 over when Thomas delivery was caught beautifully by Aziz Sualley at third short man. Thomas got his second on the 2.5 over at deep mid-wicket, a catch by Eyram Kekeli Afutu on Joseph Theodore. There was another catch by Aziz Sualley at gulley on Arumugam Venkatesh from Awudu Dramani’s ball on the 4.3 over. Three balls further and Aziz Sualley caught out Michael Aboagye (a great hope for CSK) at short third man, yet from Awudu Dramani’s ball, while CSK stood at 24 runs.
Sam Michael Merbin suffered an Lbw from Aziz Sualley ball on the 7.1 over, after spending 10 minutes and scoring 2(4). It was a day of catches, as Samson after missing 1 in the same over at 1st slip, made no mistakes by taking out Vimith B on the 7.4 over. And just the next over, Obed Harvey bowled from the Legon side and Seenivasan Sankara Nainar was caught at cover by Charles Des Border on the stroke of the 9th over.
The woos went wild with dancing when Joseph Aboagye was caught again by Charles Des Border at short cover from Samson Awiah’s ball. There was another lbw on Shrikant Nalliah on the 12.5 over from James Vifah’s delivery and Thomas Bakiweyem brilliantly ended the game for Supreme, with a sweet bowled out on Hariharan Sivagnanam.
James Vifah won the Player of the match as he also took 1.0-0-7-1.
CSK lost the game and lifted the runners up trophy but also walked away with the best batter accolade and the Most Valuable Player. Sam Michael Merbin scored a total of 225 runs in 8 innings, with a strike rate of 123.66, an average of 32.14 and 64 runs, his highest. Michael Aboagye was applauded for his consistency in both batting and bowling, having scored 191 runs and taken 10 wickets and gathering a total of 39.728.
Best bowler accolade went to Nirav Pomal of Swami Sports Club. He led the bowling chat with a total of 14 wickets taken from 5 innings, an economy rate of 5.65 and 4 maximum wickets.
President of the Ghana Cricket Association (GCA), Emmanuel Asare appreciated all the 14 teams and called on the Indian community to help the GCA land sponsorships for the league.
Board members of GCA, Angela Cassandra Allotey, and Seth Nti, with Douglas Djabeng, Kofi Tandoh, Smiley Bannerman, E.T Tagoe and captain Johnny Yamoah graced the finals.
The Ghana Cricket Association hopes to finish the turf wickets soon and with support from corporate bodies, organize more exciting leagues.
By: Davis Nii Attuquaye Clottey (True News Ghana)
