Mubarak steals the show in CDCA victory

Colombo District Cricket Association openers, Jehan Mubarak and Ian Daniels, compiled an unbeaten 96 run stand to overhaul a mediocre Tamil Nadu total. The partnership ensured their team a ten-wicket victory in the FC De Saram Trophy one-day match, which was held at the Sinhalese Sports Club today. The 25 over game was the first to not be abandoned this week.

Mubarak (60*) and Daniels (21*), a fine opening combination, which was found in the Under 19 World cup in January, carried their bats throughout the innings despite heavy drizzle to finally ensure a result in this rain hit series.

Man of the match, Jehan Mubarak, started his innings with a fine flick to the leg boundary and was unstoppable thereafter. He struck seven boundaries in his innings and all of them were attacking classy strokes in a slow wet outfield. Mubarak was keen to play his shorts and faced only 70 deliveries. Colombo clinched victory with 6.5 overs remaining when Mahesh bowled a wide

Daniels, at the other end, played the supportive role, picking up singles to give the strike to his in-form partner. Daniels struck only a boundary, which fell just short of the fence for a six.

None of the South Indian bowlers troubled the batsmen. Balaji Rao was the expensive out of the lot conceding 20 runs in his two overs. Skipper Ashis Kapoor was the pick of the bowlers and the most economical.

Earlier in the afternoon, after Colombo District Cricket Association had won the toss and elected to field, Tamil Nadu got off to a disastrous start: Kapoor offered an easy return catch to the bustling Hemantha Boteju in the third over and Bhatia was adjudged LBW to Jayasinghe to leave the visitors 12-2 in the forth over.

Thereafter, none of the batsmen appeared to settle. There were four run-outs in the innings. The only batsman to spend significant time at the crease was Madanagopal (27), but he needlessly threw his wicket away immediately after a rain interruption, when he was run out trying to take on Ian Daniels arm from the deep. Considering that Tamil Nadu lost two further wickets in the very same over to slump to 65-7 after 19 overs, they will have been quite content with their final score of 95 for 8 from their allotted 25 overs.