Tapan Ramesh presenting Man of the Match to Daniel - CET.

KUWAIT: The 18th Prof. Ramachandran Memorial Cricket Tournament (RMC) conducted by College of Engineering Trivandrum Alumini Association (CETAA) and sponsored by GTE Olayan Co, Khuff GT&C and Nouri Industrial Est began on 30th October 2015 at the Fahaheel Cricket Ground. Tapan Ramesh, Regional Manager, GTE Olayan who was the Chief Guest was introduced to the players taking part. In the first match, bowling 1st, CET bowlers maintained a steady line and length to choke NIT in the initial stages. At the end of the 6th over NIT were on a none too impressive 36 runs for the loss of 2 wickets. But Amal (12), Tarun (12 including a 6) and Baiju (19 no) raised the tempo to enable NIT to finish on a challenging 82 for 4 wickets off their 12 overs.

For CET Prashanth, James, Daniel and Arief (1 wt each) bowled impressively to keep CET in the hunt. In reply, CET got off to a bright start reaching 41 without any loss by the 6th over. The feature off the opening stand of 51 runs between KS Arun (27) and Binu (11) was the intelligent rotation of strike keeping the scoreboard moving. But NIT came back strongly with 4 quick wickets and CET were on the back foot needing 28 in the last 3 overs.

But skipper Daniel (30 no - man of the match) rose to the occasion with 2 huge sixers and CET got home to a much awaited 5 wicket victory with 3 balls to spare. Aswin and Jacob (2 wickets each) bowled their hearts out for NIT but in vain. In the 2nd match, favoured TEC were expected to win without much trouble but NSS had other ideas. Batting 1st, NSS lost Deepak in the 2nd over but a fighting 2nd wicket partnership of 43 runs between Nishanth (21) and Praveen (11) took NSS to 51 by the 7th over. Then Dileep (17 including 2 sixers - man of the match) took over with his unorthodox style to help NSS reach a fighting 83 for 5 in their 12 overs.

For TEC Dinto (2), Anoop, Sreekumar, Sajeer (1 each) took wickets but could not stem the flow of runs. TEC began the chase in real earnest with Suresh (15) and Ramesh (13) putting on 31 runs for the opening wicket in 4 overs. After Ramesh’s exit, Sunil (13) kept up the tempo to take TEC to 55 by the 8th over. TEC seemed well on course with just 29 required off 4 overs and 9 wickets in hand. But Dileep (3 for 14) bowled a match winning spell restricting TEC to 74 for 6 off their 12 overs to earn NSS a famous 9 run win.

In the last match of the day, MACE batting 1st lost their star Roy early, bowled by Mukesh but Aju (50 no) scored the 1st half century of the tournament to guide MACE to 80 for 5 wickets off their 12 overs. For TKM, Kiran (2 wickets), Mukesh and Rahul (1 each) bowled manfully but Aju proved a stumbling block. In reply, Isaac (21 no) played the sheet anchor but TKM found it difficult to keep up with the asking rate. The match was interestingly poised but Anfar (45 - man of the match) hit 3 sixers in the 8th over to effectively seal the match for TKM. Matches for 6th Nov are as follows:- MACE vs TEC at 7 am, AECK vs NIT at 9 am, and CET vs KEA at 11 am.