By Our Reporter
Shillong, March 21: Shillong Cricket Association (A) and Tura District CA will vie for the trophy in the final of the MCA U-23 Boys Inter District Cricket Tournament after the former secured their berth from Zone 1 by beating hosts Ri-Bhoi by three wickets in Nongkhrah on Monday.
SCA (A) were the top team from Zone 1’s Group A and Ri-Bhoi the best of Group B. Tura topped the single group Zone 2 and had thus already qualified for the final.
Monday’s virtual semi-final saw Ri-Bhoi win the toss and choose to bat first. Deekreat Nath (26) and Reshab Subedi (22) put on 58 for the first wicket to give their team a solid start but Ri-Bhoi then slipped to 89/4 halfway through their innings. Bharat Gurung and Laxman Gurung then crafted 61 runs for the fifth wicket, but, Ri-Bhoi once again suffered a bit of a collapse and were dismissed for 194 in 48.5 overs.
Aaron AR Nongrum secured the best figures of 3/22 in 8.5 overs while Jaskirat Singh took 2/24 in 10 overs.
In the chase, Avinash Rai thumped eight fours and a six in his 62 and shared a 50-run partnership with Jaskirat (18). No big partnerships followed, but SCA (A) ticked the required runs off and reached 195/7 with 10.2 overs to spare despite the good bowling of Sadashiv Prasad, who bagged 3/49.
Apart from his efforts with the ball and the handy runs he scored with the bat, Jaskirat also took two catches and ran a batter out, which ensured that he took home his second consecutive Player-of-the-match award.
The final will now move to Shillong and will be played on March 24.