North Garo Hills booked their place in the final of the Meghalaya Cricket Association’s U-14 Inter District Tournament 2021 on the last day of Zone 2’s round robin stage in Mendipathar today.
West Khasi Hills’ defeat to East Garo Hills in the morning confirmed NGH as zonal toppers. Prior to today WKH had won two matches and NGH three. WKH thus needed another victory today to keep their hopes alive.
The first match saw West Khasi Hills lose out to East Garo Hills by a mere two runs. EGH batted first and made 114/7 in their 20 overs (Aristho R Marak 41; Jemilson Marngar 3/23) and WKH had a good shot at victory but the regular loss of wickets hampered their progress and they were restricted to 112/9 (Raphael Nongsiang 24; Aristho R Marak 3/31). Marak was named player-of-the-match for his efforts with bat and ball.
Later, Tura’s Darniel Sangma burst through the NGH batting line-up to claim 5/18, which were the best figures of this season’s tournament and won him the player-of-the-match award. NGH were thus dismissed for only 87 (Chukam Matsram D Shira 22), which Tura chased down for the loss of five wickets in 12.2 overs (Harshit Prasad 34; Dakchakra Marak 3/22).
