Ceylon, APC to clash in JCA T20 Cup finals

Paper Edition | Page: 19

JAKARTA: Three centuries, of which two were for a losing cause, were the highlight of the semifinals of the Apple Coal JCA T20 League 2011-12 over the weekend.

James Davis’s century ensured Ceylon a place in the finals, whereas Viraj Bhammar’s centuries couldn’t stop APC United from reaching final berth.

Ceylon Warriors seemed to be peaking on time, when they demolished the much fancied Senayan Lions by 92 runs at Cibubur. Batting first, Ceylon put up a huge 220/4 in 20 overs, with James making a superb unbeaten 112 runs and Dihan Silva 44 runs. Ashit Mehta took 2/62. In reply, Senayan was bowled out for 128 runs with Asanka, Dihan and Faheem Bhai all picking up 3 wickets each. Fisal made 27 runs.

In the afternoon game, APC United beat Emerio Dragons by 7 wickets to set up a date with Ceylon for the trophy. Emerio made 166/4, with Viraj Bhammar slamming unbeaten 113 runs — his second century of the tournament. JP took 2 wickets. APC reached the victory target in 19th over with Surendra Khetan making 57 and JP making 49 runs.

In the Wooden Spoon semifinals at Gandhi, Marten Eddy held his nerve with a composed unbeaten 96 runs to lead Durians to a 9 wicket win over Menara Devils.

In a tense last over, Durians needed 4 runs to win and it had all the action – 2 dropped catches, 2 dot balls and victory of the penultimate ball. Batting first, Menara put up 184/4 with Neetesh Pansare rattling the Durian bowlers with a barrage of boundaries in his superb 108 runs. Rahul Thukral made 35 runs. Brenton Harris took 2 wickets. Marten Eddy was ably supported by Tim Gutsell who made 55 runs. Deepak Khullar took 1/34.

In the second Wooden Spoon semifinal, home team Gandhi Perkasa clinched a thriller to beat Challengers Super Kings by 14 runs. Sent in to bat first, Gandhi put up 195/8, with key contributions from Govind Sodani (38) and Ashwin Sundar (37). Sunil Samtani took 4/33.