4th MNCA Superplate Tournament YWC-L finish Group B winners, RULE end Blue Hawk's semi-final hopes

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Jan 2 : YWC, Langthabal (YWC-L) thrashed PSC, Khuyathong by 9 wickets to finish Group B winners with 5 wins in the 4th MNCA Superplate Tournament organised by the Manipur Cricket Association.
With the end of the league round, YWC-L and group runners up WYC, Wangkhem reached the semi-finals.
YWC-L chose wisely to field first at Model Hr Secondary and Oriental College playground and bundled out PSC for 99 runs in 28.4 overs before chasing down the target in just 17 overs at the cost of only one wicket.
YWC-L displayed their bowling prowess with 6 of the bowlers finding their names among the wickets to subdue the Khuyathong side whose Sapam Jellish emerged top scorers on 22 runs.
Laimayum Prasantajit 16, Thokchom Lellel 10 and Laishram Devwart 10 also managed double digit runs for PSC.
YWC-L's Pukhrambam Prashantamani returned with the best bowling figures of 3/14 in his spell of 3.4 overs while Maibam Subash (2/19) and Soubam Robinson (2/15) shared four wickets. Yumnam Chingkhei Nganba (1/11), Y Vivek (1/11) and Ngangbam Bishwash (1/8) in the meantime managed a wicket apiece.
In reply, YWC-L lost only Jiko Sorokhaibam 24 to Chungkham Kenny before Seram Robinson hit a 51-ball and Ngangbam Bikramjit added 17 to add an unbeaten 53-run partnership for the second wicket and sealed the victory.
Pukhrambam Prasantamani who led the PSC demolition work was adjudged player of the match.
Meanwhile at Moijing Public Ground, RULE, Meitram poured cold water on Blue Hawk's semi-final hopes by notching up a 114 run win.
RULE amassed a massive total of 218 runs for6 wickets in the allotted 35 overs after winning the toss and dismissed Blue Hawk for only 104 runs within 23.4 overs.
RULE did not have the best of the start and were reduced to 20/3 in 6.2 overs but Jay Singh and Leishangthem Bishorjit   withstood pressure and forged 158 runs for the fourth wicket to put RULE back into contention.
Jay Singh was dismissed by N Jackiechand for the fourth wicket at 65 but Sanjenbam Suresh held to complete his century before he holed out to A Guniram on 105 off the Dp Saheer's 2nd delivery of the 35th over.
N Jackiechand was the pick of the Blue Hawk bowlers with 3 wickets to his name while Semson Soibam collected two wickets.
Chasing the big total, Blue Hawk had a steady start but Naorem Dijen's departure on 29 marked the turning point as wickets kept falling in regular interval before getting all out at 104 in the third delivery of the 24th over as Nongthombam Sarojkumar  and Jay Singh wreaked havoc and shared 9 wickets between them.
Amom Guniram 28 and Dijen Naorem 10 also managed double digit scores for Blue Hawk as 7 others were removed cheaply including three batters on duck.
N Sarojkumar returned with the best figures of  6/12 in 6 overs while Jay Singh finished with figures of 3/24 in 4.4 overs and S Ananda picked one (1/28).
Sanjenbam Suresh who struck a ton in RULE's big win was adjudged player of the match.
With the result, RULE finished third in Group table with 4 wins in 7 matches while Blue Hawk finished fourth on the same 8 points off 4 wins but with an inferior net run rate.