Nomads win CSPL 2017

The overnight rain did nothing to dampen the spirits of the two finalists coming into the game. In fact, it turned out to be a beautiful autumn Sunday with long periods of sunshine and a perfect day for cricket.
Olten captain Ali Nayyer won the toss and chose to field on a quickly drying outfield. The matchday DJ fell silent as umpires Alex Mackay & Adam Pratt
got the game underway with the call of 'play'.
Olten opened with two medium pace bowlers in the name of Gowri Navaretnarasa & Shane Charles and it was Gowri (4.0-1-14-1) that dismissed Nomads opener Faheem Nazir, caught behind off the 5th ball of the first over (Nomads 7-1).

Nomads recovered well from the initial shock of losing such an early wicket. Baljit Singh (43) partnered the next four batsman, Asvin Lakkaraju (30), Shafqat Hussain (5), Azeen Nazir (3) and Priyank Kumar (3) to take Nomads to 92-6 before being caught at gully just after the drinks break.
Noman Khan (17) tried to take up where Baljit left off, taking Nomads to 111-7, but he failed to get much support from the tail-end, the last three wickets of Wicky Khawaja (2), J Sudath (0) and Kamran (5) all going cheaply to set Olten a conservative 118 to win (NRR 2.95)

Olten had fielded well, AW Shahid standing out with four catches behind the stumps and Ali Nayyer (6.5-0-19-4) with 4 wickets the pick of the Olten bowlers.

After a superb chicken curry lunch washed down with drinks from the non-alcoholic bar, the game got underway once more.

Olten started aggressively, AW Shahid (23) hitting 11 off Farid Din's (1.0-0-11-0) opening over. But Faheem Nazir (8.0-0-34-3) found the 'keepers gloves in the second over, RJ Jacob (7) caught behind by Asvin Lakkaraju.

The aggressive batting display continued after AW Shahid's departure with M Gnanesagaram (21) scoring 21 off 22 balls. But the Nomad's captain Azeem Nazir (7-0-2-16-3) took the ball and control of the game, ripping through Olten's middle order. First to go M Gnanesagaram, then K Kugaruben (1) & J Diyon (0).
Once Ali Nayyer (13) and Shane Charles (10) were dismissed, Olten's tactics changed as they tried to shut up shop with a NRR of just over 1 an over required. But the tail-end wickets fell as quick as the overs passed, P Jeyakanthan (6), S Thanasegaram (6), Gowri Navaretgaram (2) & T Balasingam (1), Olten eventually dismissed 13 runs short of the target.

And so Nomads became CSPL champions for the fouth time since 1996 and for the second successive season.

For more information about the 2017 CSPL Final in Winterthur on Sunday 1st October, contact the Cricket Switzerland league chairman, Mr. Asvin Lakkaraju.