The first day of eCricket Matches 2020 saw five games being played on Wednesday, May 13. There were some memorable performances in the simulated reality league cricket tournament, and here we look at what transpired through the day and bring you the summary of each game.
WHITESHADOW (AUS) v RAGEHAV (NZ), Match 1: Match abandoned
Having won the toss and elected to bat, Whiteshadow’s AUS put on a spirited batting display, with their openers Daniel Warner and Armand Finch stitching a 29-run stand. However, once the latter was dismissed, Ragehav’s NZ built the momentum and picked two back-to-back wickets in just five deliveries to restrict AUS to 43/3.
With a dinky score to defend, the likes of Nelson Coulter-Nile and Pete Cummins brushed NZ’s batsmen with ease. The duo not only picked four wickets between them (two each), but also conceded a mere six runs in total. With the score standing at 28/7 after 4.1 overs, technical difficulties meant that the match was abandoned.
MAVERICK (AFG) v KINGSPIN (BAN), Match 2: KINGSPIN won by six wickets
Maverick’s AFG were put to bat first by Kingspin’s BAN in the second game of the simulated reality league cricket tournament. The trio of Mashrafe Morteza, Soumya Sarker and Shakib Al Hasen gave away just 11 runs between them and dismissed five AFG players in the span. A late blitz by Ikram Akhil (a five-ball 13), however, saved AFG from the blushes as they put on a decent total of 39/6 after five overs.
With the bat, BAN had a promising start and without much difficulties, they reached their target in four overs.
LAUGHINGBUDDHA (ENG) v WHITESHADOW (SA), Match 3: Match abandoned
Hard-hitting knocks by the likes of Moin Alee, Jason Ray and captain Ian Morgan saw Laughingbuddha’s ENG cruise to a sensational total of 57/6 in the five overs. For Whiteshadow’s SA, with the ball, Dwight Pretorious ended with the best economy (8) while also bagging a couple of scalps to his name.
With the bat, Quincy de Kock and Hanif Amla stitched a quick-fire 25-run stand for the opening wicket, and Darren Miller followed suit once the former was gone. At 43/2 after 3.4 overs, the tech gods caused a few upsets as the game was declared abandoned.
REAPERSSLAM (WI) v MAVERICK (SL), Match 4: MAVERICK won by 24 runs
Despite losing two wickets in the opening over, Maverick’s SL steered the ship to put 46/7 on board, courtesy Dinmuth Karunaratne and Ishan Udana. With the ball, the trio of Laseth Malinga, Jivan Mendes and Jeff Vandersay kept Reapersslam’s WI under the hood as despite Andy Russel’s 8-ball 12, WI were squared at 22/8 in five overs.
RAGEHAV (IND) v LAUGHINGBUDDHA (PAK), Match 5: LAUGHINGBUDDHA won by 7 runs
After Laughingbuddha’s PAK were 12/6 within three overs, the match looked set for Ragehav’s IND. The likes of Asif Alee and Iman Wasem, however, had other ideas, and with Waqar Riaz also contributing his bit, PAK were able to score 46/8 in five overs.
When IND came in to bat, a similar pattern followed. Both openers, Rohan Sharma and Shikhar Dhaven, were dismissed in the opening two overs while captain Viraj Kohli and Rajesh Pant failed to do the talking as well. MS Dhanraj did manage to shift the momentum, but it was too little too late as IND were restricted to just 39/5 in five overs.
