Star Field elite under-15 cricket team avenged their recent loss to Swamibapa under-15 by beating their arch-rivals by five wickets in an entertaining encounter played at the Ruaraka Sports Club on Saturday.

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Star Field claimed the toss and opted to field first and their decision to do so paid dividends with Swamibapa’s top order falling apart inside the powerplay overs as they were reduced to 24 for the loss of three wickets thanks largely to some disciplined bowling by seamers Dylan Shah (2/7) and Jiyan Patel (2/9) who both claimed a brace of wickets in the match.

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Swamibapa batting failed to recover from a poor start as 24 for three soon deteriorated further to 28 for the loss of nine wickets as man of the match Aarnav Patel (3/6) put a sterling performance with the ball snaring both Mandeep Limbani and Paresh Kerai for consecutive ducks to add on to his earlier scalp of Ankit Jeshani for a single.

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Akshith Sekar was the other bowler to get amongst the wickets with a double scalp claiming two for 22 in his allotted four overs.

There was a brief relief for the Jamhuri based outfit courtesy of a late batting onslaught from lower order all-rounder Girish Kerai who notched three boundaries on his way to 19 not out which helped to lift the scores to 59 all out from 15.3 overs.

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In reply Star Field did not fare any better as they also lost several wickets upfront before man of the moment Aarnav’s cool approach gave the innings the solidity and forward motion it required to romp home with three and a half overs to spare.

Aarnav’s 16 runs off 20 deliveries included two boundaries and came at a time when Swamibapa bowlers had got the better of Star Field’s top order reducing them to 25 for four on the second ball of the ninth over.

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Aarnav held a brief 13-run partnership with Jean Pierre Oelefse 7 runs off 17 balls for the fifth wicket, before steering the innings home with Jiyan’s patient 8 runs off 22 balls for an unbroken sixth wicket partnership worth 22 runs.

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It was a good win after last week’s loss to the same opponents who claimed a commanding six wickets win at Jamhuri ground. Captain Aarnav praised the performance of his teammates terming the win as an opportunity that provided his team a chance to address the shortfalls from their previous outing.