DESPITE playing their best cricket ever, Singapore found themselves bundled out of the semi-finals of the World Cricket League Division 5 competition in Jersey with rain proving to be the decisive factor.
Yesterday, the Republic defeated Japan by 52 runs to finish Group B with 3 wins and, 1 loss and 1 abandoned match but it was the rained-off encounter against the Bahamas which prevented Singapore from picking up the vital points in their quest to end up second in their group.
After losing to Jersey in the opener, Singapore beat Botswana and favourites Afghanistan. The Republic’s 2 remaining matches against Japan and the Bahamas were both unable to be played on schedule because of rain. That meant that the organisers were able to use the rest day yesterday to play only one match – against Japan – with the match against the Bahamas being declared a no-result with the teams getting one point each.
The result put Singapore on par with Afghanistan with 7 points each but the Republic’s nett run-rate of 0.24 was inferior to Afghanistan’s 1.63.
“This is the most disappointing day of my life,’’ said skipper Ruwan. “We beat Afghanistan. We did not get to play the weaker team Bahamas against whom Afghanistan capitalised by getting them all out for 46 and clubbing the runs in about 6 overs, thereby getting a huge increase in their nett run-rate.
“We were certainly deserving of a place in the semi-finals. We played excellent cricket. Only the weather was our real enemy.”
Yesterday, Singapore needed to beat Japan by a huge margin of more than 305 runs to go past Afghanistan’s nett run rate of 1.63. They went out blazing and in 5 overs, they crossed the 50-run mark. But once Chetan Suryawanshi, who blasted 57 in 37 balls (five fours and three sixes) and Ruwan, who hit 41 in 28 balls (five fours and a six) were dismissed, the run rate, which had hovered at about 10 in eight overs, fell dramatically.
In the end, the Republic made 201 in 35.4 overs before restricting Japan to 67-5 in 27 overs to win by 52 runs under the Duckworth-Lewis method in a rain-affected match.
“It was a tall order,’’ said team manager Mahmood Gaznavi. “We needed in excess of 400 runs to have any chance of going ahead of Afghanistan. The boys decided to go for it. Skipper Chaminda put up his hand and said he would lead from the front. Until the eighth over, we were still hoping for the little miracle to happen. In the end, it did not and with the slow wickets here, we always knew we had a mountain to climb.
“But the boys must be patted on their backs. They fought in each and every game and let it not be forgotten that no one gave us a chance against Afghanistan and we won decisively. If only we had played the Bahamas, we would have 8 points and run-rate would have been an irrelevant consideration. Still, we remain focussed to vie for the fifth position.”
Jersey will play the United States and Afghanistan faces Nepal in the semi-finals.
Singapore, Mozambique, Germany and Botswana play for the 5th to 8th places.
Brief scores -- Singapore Singapore 201 all out in 35.4 overs (Chetan Suryawanshi 57, Chaminda Ruwan 41, Y. Matsubara 4-53)
Japan 67-5 in 27 overs (Anish Paraam 2-12, Rizwan Madakia 2-7, Narender Reddy 1-16).
Full Scorecard
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