KUCHING – Team XLR8 triumphed over Knight Riders in a nail-biting final to win the Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak cricket tournament, recently.
XLR8 had won the toss and decided to field first. In the five allocated overs, Knight Riders were able to post a fighting score of 58 on loss of three wickets, thanks to the brilliant batting display by Sameera Markii who scored 35 runs in the final match.
Haneef Mohamed bowled a magnificent over for XLR8 by taking two wickets for just three runs in the power play over.
With the trophy at stake, the team’s Chirath Uralagamage went hard at Knight Riders’ bowling from the first ball of the match.
At the end of the fourth over, XLR8’s score was on 55 for the loss of one wicket. Although it only wanted four off the last over, Shariful Islam of Knight Riders bowled a super over conceding only three runs and bagging two wickets. Both teams had scored 58 off five overs and surprisingly the match was a tie.
XLR8’s Chirath Uralagamage scored 41 not out. To decide the winner of tournament, a super over (one over) need to be played.
XLR8 batted first in the super over and again, with Chirath Uralagamage playing an amazing inning of 18 runs with the team ending the super over at 26 runs.
Knight Riders were able to score only 14 runs due to a tight over bowled by Haneef Mohamed.
For his efforts, Chirath Uralagamage won the best batsman of the tournament trophy for scoring 104 runs in four matches.
Andrew Jonathan Cyril won the best bowler award for taking six wickets in four matches.
Ali Hamza of team Gladiators was named the man of the tournament for scoring 79 runs and taking two wickets in three matches.
“Both teams played a wonderful and sensible game. It was also possibly one of the best ever final played on campus and one of the best tournaments organized by the Swinburne Cricket Club,” said club advisor Mujahid Tabassum.
To qualify for the final, XLR8 had earlier beaten Sarawak Ngap Sayot while Knight Riders won over Gladiators.
A total of nine teams, including one from the Sarawak Cricket Association, competed for the championship title.