8th MNCA Elite TournamentCYCLONE thump CHAMP by 5 wickets for third straight victory

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Mar 14 : Nongthombam Denin produced an all round performance to help CYCLONE, Thangmeiband cruise to third straight victory in the 8th MNCA W Prahlada and W Ramananda Elite Tournament.
  CYCLONE elected to field first and bundled out CHAMP for 106 runs in 41.4 overs riding on Nongthombam Denin (4/10 in 6.4 overs) and Nongmaithem Suraj (2/20 in 9 overs)  at Luwangpokpa Cricket Stadium today and chased down the target in 28.4 overs on the back of Rohit Moirangthem 19, Md Al Bashid 43 and Nongthombam Denin 22 not out.
CHAMP had a disastrous start to their innings and slumped to 106 all out despite opener Narsingh Yadav scoring a painstakingly slow 121-ball 55 before he was dismissed for the last wicket by Denin in the 42nd over.
Bikash, L Santosh and Abdul Kasim also picked a wicket apiece for CYCLONE to keep CHAMP under pressure throughout the innings.
Nongthombam Denin was eventually adjudged man of the match.
The day also saw TRAU, Kwakeithel open their winning account after two losses by registering a 20-run victory over  RULE, Meitram thanks to Priyojit Kangabam's all round performance at Khangabok Cherapur Public Ground.
RULE  opted to field first after winning the toss and saw TRAU gather a modest total of 219 runs for 9 wickets in the allotted 45 overs courtesy Jay Singh (3/33), Thokchom Kishan (2/34), Avinash Asmali (2/44) and Nongthombam Sarojkumar (2/21). Priyojit Kangabam starred for TRAU with a 50-ball 68 in this innings as Amritakaran 29 not out, Anand Naorem 23 and Dr Siddharth Shah 21 made significant contributions.
RULE however faltered in the chase and succumbed to 199 all out despite a flourishing start provided by Sanjenbam Sureh 52, Jay Singh 22 and middle order fightback from S Somokanta 23 and Nongthombam Sarojkumar 32.
Anand Naorem was pick of the TRAU bowlers as he returned with the best figures of 3/38 in 9 overs while Priyojit Kangabam (2/23) and Mutum Swabhiman (2/43) shared four wickets.
Priyojit was eventually adjudged man of the match.
Elsewhere at Lairenjam Public Ground, Model Club, Chingamakha fought their way to a 2 wicket win over ESU, Wangkhei Palace Compound after restricting ESU to 179/8.
Chongtham Mehul Shreth 44, Sanatomba 30, Thokchom Nishikanta 30 and Keithellakpam Poirei Federick 23 not out were the leading run getters for ESU in the innings which saw Sunil Salam (2/26), L Robertson (1/43), Waikhom Priyokumar (1/18) and M Langlonyamba (1/22).
It was a bumpy ride for Model Club in the chase but Langlonyamba played anchor and was two runs away from hitting a century off 99 deliveries to rescue the team from a precarious situation before being bowled out for the 8th wicket. Dibak Naorem then finished off the chase in 41.1 overs with an unbeaten 20.
For ESU, Chitaranjan Sharma (3/25), Lourembam Dipu (2/25) and Chongtham Mehul Shreth (3/39) produced exemplary bowling performances but their efforts were not enough to contain the Model Club batters at the end.