by Alex Rego, Kuwait

Kuwait, April 23: KCWA/M.& M. Confectionary finally managed to get past Tally this season when they won a hard fought 31 run victory in the finals of the Prestigious Lawson Memorial Cup played at the JP Ground in Sulaibiya on Friday 21st April, 2006.

Winning the toss, Skipper James elected to bat first. Openers Merwyn Lewis and Shoaib Sayed began cautiously against Jude and Francis. Jude drew the first blow in the second over when Shoaib top edged and Ramakant  took a comfortable catch at third man. New batsman Ronnie struggled against Jude and after 9 deliveries edged one to Menon behind the stumps. Javed Kaloo and Merwyn then steadied the innings with a partnership of 75 taking the score to 108 for 2 at the end of the 18th over. With 7 overs left, KCWA needed to score quickly to set up a good target. Javed Kaloo perished trying to do that as he  holed out to Francis of Robin for 31. Merwyn followed quickly bowled by Riaz for 55 (3x4, 1x6). Salim Bousheri and Lal couldn't do much as they were bowled by Riaz and Robin for 1 and 3 respectively. James, in the company of Shyam then added a late flourish as they took the score to 158 for 8 in the allotted 25 overs with James remaining not out on 26.

For Tally, Riaz bowled brilliantly taking 4 for 29 in 5 overs, while Jude and Robin were equally impressive with 2 for 14 and 2 for 26 in their 5 overs.

Needing, 158 to win Tally began their reply with Stanley and Verghese, and they were quickly on their way as Stanley belted Salim Bousheri for 3 fours in the first over. John Chinna's first over yielded 10. John however had his revenge when he bowled Varghese in his second over. Stanley departed quickly when he was caught at the wicket by Shoaib for 21.

Robin and Jamil steadied their innings taking the score to 57 when Robin holed out to Merwyn of Ronnie for 10. John came back and struck again when he had Jamil caught by Shoaib for 16 to let KCWA back in the game. James then accounted for Riaz when he bowled him for 6 and Tally were under huge pressure. Jude & Deepak then got together to repair the damage, but with wickets lost and run rate increasing the pressure was always on them. Jude tried to hit out but a top edge flew to Lal who came up with a good catch. Salim Bousheri came  up with another excellent catch to end Deepak's innings of 15. Tally kept losing wickets as Shoaib effected stumpings off Francis and Menon and they ended up with 127 leaving KCWA winners by 31 runs.

For KCWA/M. & M. Confectionary, John Chinna and James bowled well to set up this victory taking 3 wickets each while conceding 24 and 34 runs respectively. Merwyn, Lal and Ronnie Lobo were equally effective taking a wicket each as KCWA/M.& M. Confectionary finally came up with a great win after 3 losses during the season against their arch rivals.

Merwyn Lewis was declared the Man of the Match. The following Chief Guests were present: Jossie Pinto of M. & M. Confectionary, Lawrence Pinto, Lino Ferrao and Steven Machado, the President of KCWA. The tournament was a great success mainly due to the generous contribution by Lawrence Pinto, Lino Ferrao, John Fernandes (Sanbouk Super Market), Stanly D' Souza and Rudy D 'Souza.

A special thanks to Johny Misquith (Tip Top Caterers) for the delicious lunch and also for the commentary by Rudy D' Souza who gave the commentary ball of ball.