
CRICKET POST MATCH REPORT
Mutembei's triple strike earns Star Field elite U19 second win in a row
24/06/21 Nairobi, Kenya
Kevin Mutembei (3/8) produced a magnificent display with the ball to lead Star Field elite under-19 cricket team in making it two wins from two friendly matches when they saw off the challenge of a strong Ruaraka outfit by 32 runs at Nairobi Gymkhana on Sunday morning.
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The toss had favoured the visitors who began well on the day as they restricted the home side to a lowly 76 for nine off their 20 overs.
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Before Mutembei and William Ngare (1/5) paired together to remove the first three Ruaraka batsmen for a combined total of just seven runs to leave them tottering at 9/3 by the end of the fifth over.
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Ngare drew first blood with the scalp of Kenya under-19 player Hasit Vekaria who was clean bowled for five before Mutembei joined in with a double act of his own by snaring opposition skipper Harshil Vekaria for a single and then rattled the defense of one down batsman Vishil Patel for another single run 17 deliveries later.
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The two seamers steamed in at good pace and gave the batsmen little chances of scoring with each picking up a maiden over in a devastating opening powerplay spell that saw Ruaraka register only 10 runs for three wickets.
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Nitish Hirani held one end of the Ruaraka innings with a plodded 11 off 43 balls while the rest of the batsmen contributed insignificant single digit scores to conclude the innings at 44 for nine off their 20 overs.
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Earlier on, Star Field had themselves been restricted after being put in by their opponents, only skipper Tirth Babariya (17 off 23 balls) and Yash Talati (16 off 20 balls) managed double figure scores amongst the top six batters, while Akshith Sekar (10 off 26 balls) and Jiyan Patel 9 off 10 balls) put together a 23-run eighth wicket partnership that got Star Field from 58 to 76 at close.