Mathew Philip, Ex GC, handing the man of the match award to Govind (KEA).

KUWAIT: The semifinals of the 19th Prof Ramachandran Memorial Cricket Tournament (RMC) conducted by College of Engineering Trivandrum Alumini Association (CETAA) and sponsored by GTE Olayan Co was held at the beautiful Boulevard Cricket stadium at Salmiya on 16th Dec. KEA and AECK won convincingly showing why they are regarded as the top two teams of the competition and set up a repeat of last year's final.

In the first semifinal, KEA winning the toss put TEC into bat. The conditions under lights at the new venue were unpredictable and TEC were soon in trouble loosing skipper Suresh and the experienced Dinto for "ducks," both falling LBW with just 3 on board. Brothers Ramesh and Girish dug in but were finding it difficult to adjust and keep the scoreboard moving. At the end of 6 overs the score was only 18 amidst the anxious faces in the TEC dug out. Sunil who joined Ramesh at the fall of Girish in the 9th over brought some cheer with confident stroke play but was run out in the end overs melee. Ramesh (17) was the only one to reach double figures and TEC managed to reach a fighting total of 61 for the loss of 6 wickets in their 15 overs with the aid of 22 extras. Nasif (2 for 6), Arjun and Syam with a wicket each helped KEA to keep TEC to manageable propositions.

In reply, KEA was rocked early loosing Nithin for a duck. Ajin and Govind steadied the innings without taking undue risks. When Ajin was out for 13 in the 7th over, it was still anybody's game. But thereafter Govind (26 no - Man of the Match) took charge and with good support from Tibish took KEA to a convincing 8 wicket victory with more than 3 overs to spare. Govind was particularly impressive with his calm composure and his ability to put away the loose balls. Dinto and Sandeep took a wicket each but TEC's inability to get rid of Govind proved crucial.

In the second semifinal against TKM, asked to bat first AECK kept a steady run rate even though they lost 3 wickets by the 4th over. Even though none of their prolific batsmen could play a substantial innings, useful contributions from Nithin (13), Mahesh (11), Nimish (10) aided by the liberal dose of extras from TKM (24) enabled AECK to reach a formidable 87 for the loss of 9 wickets in their 15 overs. For TKM, Sreekumar who removed both the openers was particularly impressive with his prodigious swing bowling. Ajmal (2), Faizal, Javed, Shabeer (1 wicket) supported Sreeku mar but extras proved their undoing.

Chasing a daunting task, TKM opened with their star batsman Anfar who lead from the front in his usual robust style in an attempt to keep up with the required rate. And when AECK dropped him twice of mishit skiers, the match seemed destined for an exciting finish. But none of the other batsmen could give Anfar (25) the required support and his fall in the 10 over clean bowled by Shameer (Man of the Match) effectively ended the match as a contest. Nimish (3), Shameer, Munaz (2 each) and Rinaz (1 wicket) withstood the onslaught by Anfar and AECK won by 24 runs in the 15th over.

Gyanendra Singh, Sports Executive, Boulevard and Arun Davidson, GC designate were the guests of honour while Mathew Philip, Ex-GC and  Mohanachandran, Chairman, RMC gave away the "Man of the Match" awards.