KUWAIT CITY, Dec 6: The 3rd day’s matches of Prof. Ramachandran Cricket (RMC) organized by CETAA, Kuwait chapter and sponsored by GTE — Olayan Company did not produce any surprises and resulted in expected outcomes. In the first match (which proved to be the only exciting match of the day), last year’s runners up TEC survived some tense moments to defeat hosts CETAA by 9 runs. It appeared that TEC’s captain’s decision to bat first was not appropriate with them loosing two wickets, including that of last week’s man of the match Suresh for 11 runs on the board. But 3rd wicket stand between ‘Man of the Match’ Ramesh (49) and Girish (36) produced 76 runs and proved match winning in a low scoring match.

They finished their 15 overs with a score of 109 for 7 wickets. For CET, George took 3 wickets and Sunand took 2. In reply, CET started steadily reaching 34 for I wicket at the end of 5 overs. Later they lost wickets at regular intervals with only youngster Avinash (45) and Zameer (20) making worthy contributions. They ended up making 100 for 9 wickets. For TEC, Suresh and Dinto took 3 wickets each and Girish took 2.
The second match of the day between defending champions AECK and NIT ended up as a totally one sided match. Batting first, AECK piled up 149 for 3 wickets, thanks to ‘Man of the Match’ Raghu (50 n.o) and Zubin (35). In reply NIT lost wickets from the very first over and collapsed to a record low score of 25 in the 9th over. For AECK Smitosh, Ramon and Vinod took 3 wickets each.

The 3rd match (NSS -TKM) and 4thmatch (KEA-MACE) of the day were of knock out character. In the 3rd match, batting first after winning toss, NSS could not live up to the expectations and make only 86 runs. Only Deepak (28) and Shafeel (21) put up fight. For TKM, Captain Anfar and ‘Man of the Match’ Mukesh took 3 wickets each. In reply, TKM lost three wickets for 32 runs after 8 overs, but Anfar (19) and Mukesh (17 n.o) helped them to sail thru’ to reach the low target and ended up at 92 for 4 in the 14th over.

The last match of the preliminary round between KEA and MACE also did not produce any excitement. MACE called the toss right and piled up 60 for the loss of Captain’s wicket at the end of 8 overs. But after the fall of George (25) and Roy (24) in quick succession, they lost track and were all out for 88 runs, due to accurate KEA bowling by ‘Man of the Match’ Siva (5 wkts) and Roy Oommen (4 wkts). Needing 89 runs to reach semifinal, captain Biju (31 n.o) and Jim (25) helped KEA to reach home without much hick ups.
In the semi final matches on Dec 9th, defending champions AECK will take on TKM at 7 am and TEC will meet KEA at 10:30 am.