Tanzania: Local Cricket Giants Aim Higher As New Season Begins
Tanzania Daily News (Dar es Salaam)
Japheth Kazenga
17 July 2011
DOMESTIC cricket giants, Academy Boys Club, will be looking to make a successful bid for total dominance in competitions as the new season slowly unfolds.
The team’s campaign in this year’s Dar es Salaam Regional Cricket Committee (DRCC) League took off to an impressive start as they thrashed Upanga SC by 85 runs at the Annadil Burhani venue last week.
The last season saw Academy Boys command a string of stellar performances to haul trophies, with the Tanzania Cricket Association (TCA) Twenty20 League title becoming the only one to have eluded them.
Upanga SC won the Twenty20 League to underline its status as a rising force in the sport and subsequently thwart Academy Boys’ plan to make clean sweep of honours.
Academy Boys had won the toss in their encounter with Upanga SC last week and opted to bat, in which they notched 251 runs all out in 42 overs with solid batting playing major role in the team’s eventual total despite losing all wickets with eight overs to go.
Kassim Nassor, a senior member of Academy Boys, was in good form with the bat as he scored 100 runs to record the first century of the tournament.
Other players that had notable contribution in the team’s total were the younger players, Zamoyoni Ramadhani with 43 runs and Rishpal Singh with 27 runs.
The team’s other senior member, Issa Kikasi, was not at his actual best at the crease but still managed to finish his innings with 17 runs.
Upanga SC certainly did not have the muscle to chase their opponents’ score as they, in response, managed 166 runs all out in 43 overs.
The team’s top scorers of runs were Chetan Bhorkhataria with 33 and one Amit with 28 runs as others struggled to offer support.
Ramadhan, who is also an up-and-coming pace bowler, took three wickets in his fruitful bowling spell for Academy Boys while another talented youngster, Hamis Rajab, had two wickets.
Other wicket takers for the side were Nassor and Hawa Salum, the only female player in the squad, who had one apiece.
Academy Boys were scheduled to meet Aga Khan at the University of Dar es Salaam venue on Sunday in the first duel bringing together the biggest rivals in domestic cricket.
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