KUWAIT: The 18th Prof. Ramachandran Memorial Cricket Tournament (RMC) conducted by College of Engineering Trivandrum Alumni Association (CETAA) continued on 6th Nov at the Fahaheel Cricket Ground with a match between TEC and MACE in Pool B. Opting to bat first, TEC showed their aggressive intent from the very beginning. In spite of loosing Girish (run out) in the 2nd over, the other batsmen came into their Suresh (18), Dinto (27) and Shajeer (23 - man of the match) scored at a fast pace TEC in command. And when Sunil (18 no) and Ramesh (11 no) put the finishing touches with their power hitting, TEC had a match winning total of 114 runs for 4 wickets in their 12 overs with 74 runs coming in the last 6 overs. Akshay, Saju and Tinu got a wicket each for MACE but could not stem the flow of runs.

Chasing a daunting task, only Tinu (12) and Jose (10) showed some resistance and MACE finished on a disappointing 60 for 7 wickets in their 12 overs leaving TEC convincing winners by 54 runs. For TEC, Shajeer and Dinto (2 wickets each), Sandeep and Sreekumar (1 each) made sure there were no alarms in the chase. In the 2nd match, batting 1St NIT were pegged down by the persistence of the AECK attack and only Geo (16) could make any headway. NIT finished on a moderate 56 rut for 7 wickets in their 12 overs.

Irshad (man of the match) and Renjith took 2 wickets while Shabeer and Shameer took a wicket each for AECK to contain NIT. With their strong batting line up 56 was not a challenging score and AECK got home in the 8 over for the loss of only 2 wickets. Melvin (23) and Subin Vasu (19 no) made merry while Arun and Ajay took a wicket each for NIT to lessen the margin of defeat.

Under pressure

In the last match of the day, hosts CET won the toss and put last year’s champs KEA in to bat. The move seemed to pay off as star Ajin and Nitin were removed early to put KEA under pressure. Skipper Tibish and Binu too departed by the 6th over with the score reading 42. But opener Govind (38 off 22 balls - man of the match) got good support from Renju (18) to take KEA to 70 by the 8th over. Presoon (14 no) and Arjun (10 no) then scored a crucial unbeaten 26 runs for the 9th wicket to put KEA firmly in control.

KEA finally reached 106 for 8 wickets in their 12 overs. CET’s bowling and fielding stood out. Arun Davidson, Daniel, Zameer and Prashanth took 2 wickets each, but could not quite contain KEA’s fire power. In reply, CET could not get their expected start from the openers and none of the other batsmen too could offer much resistance to the experienced KEA attack. CET folded up for 52 in their 12 overs to leave KEA comfortable winners by 54 runs.

For KEA, Syam and Govind took 2 wickets each while Nithin, Nikhilesh and Arjun took a wicket each. Nov 13th is a rest day and matches will resume on 20th Nov with (1) TKM vs TEC at 7.30 am, (2) NSS vs MACE at 9.30 am, and AECK vs KEA at 11.30 am.