MCL 13th Match Review: Leo Lions hunt the Strikers in Cliff hanger chase

It was perhaps Johan Botha’s calmness at the crease that made the difference between the two sides in the match. Botha anchored around other batsmen to ensure that his side, the Leo Lions, were over the line.

Chasing a modest 151, the Lions had a scratchy start as they lost the wicket of Hamish Marshall in the second over of the innings. Santokie got through the defences of Marshall to give the Strikers an early breakthrough. Johan Botha joined Brendan Taylor at the crease. Wasting no time, Botha cleared his intentions as he smacked Bond for a six and a four in the third over to up the ante and shifted the momentum in the favour of the Lions. Taylor and Botha looked set to cruise along to take Lions over the line while Taylor also looked in good touch for a birthday special. But Imran Farhat struck gold in the 9th over when he dismissed the Zimbabwean for 23 and broke the 54-run stand.

With the scorecard reading 61/2 in 9 overs, James Franklin came to the middle. He hit a six off Imran Farhat’s ball in the 13th over but lost his wicket in the very next over to Nathan Hauritz who cleaned him up for 17. In walked Scott Styris and hit a boundary of the second ball that he faced. Johan Botha, on the other hand, continued mixing caution with aggression to bring up his fifty.

A well settled Botha was castled in the penultimate over by Santokie. His well-compiled innings of 70 came in 60 balls embellished with four boundaries and 3 maximums. Needing 17 off 11 balls, Santokie looked venomous for the new man Robin Peterson at the crease. But a calm head Scott Styris at the other end hit a six and four on the last two balls of the 19th over to bring the equation down to just 3 runs needed in the last over.

A bit more drama unfolded when Yasir Arafat bowled a dot ball and followed it up with the wicket of Peterson to bring Heath Streak to the crease. Streak pushed the ball along to take a single on the third ball. A leg bye on the next ball equalled the score and the former Zimbabwe skipper then hit the winning run to complete a 5-wicket win for the Lions.

Earlier in the day, Sagittarius Strikers’ skipper Adam Gilchrist won the toss and opted to bat first. Openers Gilchrist and Jayawardene gave the Strikers a flying start with Jaya continuing the onslaught from where he had left in the last match. The duo put on 40 off 25 balls for the first wicket before Jayawardene edged one to Brendan Taylor’s gloves off the bowling of Johan Botha. He was dismissed on 21 off 13 balls.

Gilchrist continued batting with caution to take his score to 33 in 26 balls but lost his wicket in the 8th over when he was caught plumb in front of the wickets by Ramesh Powar. Imran Farhat and Yasir Hameed yet again failed to deliver the goods and were dismissed by Robin Peterson for 13 and 16 respectively.

The scorecard read 90/4 in 12.3 overs when Hameed was dismissed. Michael Carberry (17) and Khurram Khan (19) put up a brief resistance before Khurram edged one off the bowling of the birthday boy Fidel Edwards and was caught by another birthday boy Brendan Taylor in the 18th over. Yasir Arafat was cleaned up on the first ball by Edwards. In the 19th over, Kyle Jarvis reflected Edwards’ previous over, and picked up two wickets in two balls to dismiss Carberry and Santokie. Jarvis picked up his third wicket on the last ball of the penultimate over to leave the Strikers reeling at 127/9 in 19 overs.

The saving grace for the Strikers came in the last over bowled by Fidel Edwards that yielded 24 runs. After bowling a dot ball, he gave away 5 wides and then was plundered for 3 successive boundaries by Nathan Hauritz. A couple of singles and a boundary of a no ball followed, which further worsened things for the bowler. Hauritz remained unbeaten on 16 off 9 as Sagittarius Strikers put on 151/9 in their stipulated 20 overs.

Brief Scores:

Sagittarius Strikers – 151/9 in 20 overs (Gilchrist 33; Jarvis 3/33)

Leo Lions – 152/5 in 19.5 overs (Botha 70; Santokie 2/41)

Man of the Match: Johan Botha (Leo Lions)