By Norbert Abbi

 

Results summary:

Tornado Bee CC 285/5 in 49.5/50 overs (Roger Mukasa 80 off 70, Akbar Baig 53 off 67, Francis Otieno 58 off 64) beat Premier CC 103/10 all out in 23.3/50 overs (Opio Ronald 63 of 69) by 182 runs. 

Man of Match: Roger Mukasa 80 off 70 balls and 6/11 in 6.3 overs

The Tornado Bee of old that demolished sides like Thanos snapping his finger showed their grit with a dominant performance against Premier at the University oval in Kyambogo.

The Bees won the toss and chose to bat first with cricket cranes skipper Roger Mukasa getting the Bees to a fine start mixing brutality and finesse in his batting to top score with 80 runs off 70 balls. His efforts were then bolstered by the pair of Akbar Baig (53 off 67) and Francis Otieno (58 off 64). The Bees eventually posted 285 and lost five wickets in the process.

Premier’s bowling woes later translated to their batting as the fell 182 runs short of the target in their chase. Under 19 opening batsman Ronald Opio (63 off 69) together with skipper Rajesh Nair (14 off 12) were the only batsmen to have double figures. Opio contributed over 60% of the team’s total with his teammates hardly bothering the scoreboard.

Roger Mukasa bowled rings around the Premier batsmen to limit them to just 103 runs. He posted figures of 11/6 in 6.3 overs with a very impressive economy of 1.69. Rogers cunning with both the bat and ball deservedly earned him the man of match recognition he was long over due for.

Premier has struggled all through the season, bearing the brunt of losses for the Division 1 league. With two games to play, one can easily say they are relegation guaranteed. Their stay will depend on KICC losing a game, and with both sides slated to face off on the 9th of September, the stakes can never be any higher. At the moment, Premier can only watch on as their dream of staying in the division gets squashed.

The Tornado Bees, who are tied on points with the Strikers CC at 31 still have four games in hand and a single win is all it will take to ensure their stay. With Aziz Damani mathematically clinching the championship, the highest the Bees can set their sights on is second place should they win all their remaining games and results go the other way for their opponents higher up on the log.