REPORT: Finals Day – Week 2 – Prague Spartans Vanguards march to victory at ECN Czech Super Series

Prague Spartans Vanguards proved worthy ECN Czech Super Series Group 2 winners in an entertaining second week of action at the picturesque Velvary Cricket Ground (VCG) in the Czech Republic.

Prague CC Knights won the toss and elected to bowl first in the final, a method that had brought them victory in two impressive chases earlier in the day, including one against their final opponents Prague Spartans Vanguards in the group stages.

Equalling their highest score of the tournament at the perfect time, Prague Spartans Vanguards progressed to 81 on the back of Prasannaa Ganesan’s power hitting. Removing dangerman Laxminarayanan Selvan from the very first ball of the innings certainly helped the Vanguards cause. Skipper Neeraj Tyagi bagged a rare T10 wicket maiden, conceding only 3 runs in a miserly spell.

NEERAJ NAILS IT IN THE FINAL!

In reality, 9-2 off the powerplay overs was never likely to get the job done. Prague CC Knights were well beaten and finished a distant 22 runs short.

Earlier in the day, everything was still up for grabs. The opening contest on Sunday morning, was a much-anticipated Vinohrady derby with the Biancos taking on the Rossos at the picturesque Velvary Cricket Ground (VCG) in the Czech Republic.

Both sides needed to win to stay alive in the ECN Czech Super Series and accordingly the pressure was on from ball one.

A 50 partnership between Nirmal Kumar and Toby Haslam motored the innings, but after losing Kumar with 14 balls remaining, the Biancos only added 10 more runs to close on a middle of the road 66.

Chasing is never easy on this ground, but Rossos were in prime position, requiring only 20 to win at a run a ball - with all 10 wickets left. But the dreaded scoreboard pressure started to tell, while the less-fancied Biancos scrapped feverishly to prevent every run. Needing 6 to win from the final over, the Rossos still appeared to have the match firmly in their grip.

However, a crunch over from Alex Sirisena turned the tide in Biancos favour as the Rossos were sent packing to an agonising two run defeat, losing three wickets in the final six balls.

With the Rossos losing, Prague Spartans Vanguards knew they were already guaranteed top spot in the group standings. Choosing to bat, the method that had been so successful on day one, Prague Spartans Vanguards progressed to a meagre 57, their lowest score of the tournament so far.

In reply, Prague CC Knights were reeling at 7-3 after only 10 balls. However, the Kings recovered with an unbeaten 50 partnership between Kasi Vishwanathan Puthucode Balakrishnan and Naveen Padmaraju to reach the Eliminator and the first successful chase of the tournament.

Prague CC Knights carried on that momentum in the Eliminator against the Vinohrady Biancos, who had racked up a decent total of 70.

Prague CC Knights again lost early wickets in reply, but Kasi Vishwanathan Puthucode Balakrishnan and Laxminarayanan Selvan got the Knights impressively back on the horse to comfortably reach the final with 17 balls to spare.

That was as good as it got and things got pretty dark in the final for the Knights as the Prague Spartans Vanguards marched to a convincing victory in week 2 of the ECN CZECH SUPER SERIES!

Join us on next Saturday for more exciting ECN CZECH SUPER SERIES live action from 10am CEST * 9am UK * 8am GMT * 1:30pm IST

MATCH SCORECARDS – FINALS DAY – GROUP 2 - June 21 – ECN CZECH SUPER SERIES

Prague Spartans Vanguards vs. Prague CC Knights | Final ECN Czech Super Series Week 2 | T10

Prague CC Knights won the toss and elected to bowl first ----Prague Spartans Vanguards 80/6 (10 overs, RR: 8) Captain: Neeraj Tyagi ----Prague CC Knights 58/7 (10 overs, RR: 5.8) Captain: Sujith Gopalakrishnan

Prague Spartans Vanguards Wins by 22 runs in Sunny Conditions in Velvary ----Player of the Match: Prasannaa Ganesan from Prague Spartans Vanguards Runs: 35 | Balls: 22 | 6s: 2 | 4s: 2 | S/R: 159.09 Wickets: 1 | Runs Against: 6 | Overs: 1

Ganesan gets it done!

Prague Spartans Vanguards Batting

Prasannaa Ganesan | Runs: 35 | Balls: 22 | 6s: 2 | 4s: 2 | S/R: 159.1

Vyshakh Jagannivasan | Runs: 19 | Balls: 13 | 6s:  | 4s: 2 | S/R: 146.2

Parth Bhalodiya | Runs: 11 | Balls: 9 | 6s: 1 | S/R: 122.2

Prague Spartans Vanguards Bowling

Satyajit Sengupta 2/10 (2 Overs, RR: 5)

Suhaib Wani 2/20 (2 Overs, RR: 10)

Neeraj Tyagi 1/3 (2 Overs, RR: 1.5)

Prague CC Knights Batting

Sone Neerolipadan | Runs: 17 | Balls: 23 | 6s:  | S/R: 73.9

Joseph Johnson | Runs: 10 | Balls: 5 | 6s: 1 | 4s:  | S/R: 200

Prague CC Knights Bowling

Laxminarayanan Selvan 2/19 (2 Overs, RR: 9.5)

Naveen Padmaraju 1/9 (2 Overs, RR: 4.5)

Vijay Karthikeyan 1/11 (1 Overs, RR: 11)

Umpires: Pete Vincent | Javed Iqbal Match Referee: Terry O'Connor

Prague Spartans Vanguards wins the Final of ECN Czech Super Series - Week 2

Prague CC Knights vs. Vinohrady Biancos | Eliminator ECN Czech Super Series Week 2 | T10

Prague CC Knights Wins by 8 wickets in Cloudy Conditions in Velvary

Prague CC Knights won the toss and elected to bowl first ----Vinohrady Biancos 70/6 (10 overs, RR: 7) Captain: Michael Londesborough ----Prague CC Knights 72/2 (7.1 overs, RR: 10.05) Captain: Sujith Gopalakrishnan

Player of the Match: Laxminarayanan Selvan from Prague CC Knights Runs: 40 | Balls: 20 | 6s: 4 | 4s: 1 | S/R: 200

Wickets: 1 | Runs Against: 8 | Overs: 2

Vinohrady Biancos Batting

Frederick Heydenrych | Runs: 18 | Balls: 18 | 6s: 1 | 4s: 1 | S/R: 100

Toby Haslam | Runs: 14 | Balls: 20 | 6s:  | 4s:  | S/R: 70

Nirmal Kumar | Runs: 12 | Balls: 8 | 4s: 2 | S/R: 150

Vinohrady Biancos Bowling

Benjamin Soucek 2/25 (2 Overs, RR: 12.5)

Prague CC Knights Batting

Laxminarayanan Selvan | Runs: 40 | Balls: 20 | 6s: 4 | 4s: 1 | S/R: 200

Kasi Balakrishnan | Runs: 19 | Balls: 17 | 6s: 2 | S/R: 111.8

Prague CC Knights Bowling

Vijay Karthikeyan 1/6 (1 Overs, RR: 6)

Joseph Johnson 1/7 (2 Overs, RR: 3.5)

Laxminarayanan Selvan 1/8 (2 Overs, RR: 4)

Umpires: Pete Vincent | Pradeep KG Match Referee: Terry O'Connor

Prague CC Knights wins the eliminator and reached final

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Vinohrady Rossos vs. Vinohrady Biancos | Group Match #5 ECN Czech Super Series Week 2 | T10

Vinohrady Biancos Wins by 2 runs in Cloudy Conditions in Velvary

Vinohrady Rossos won the toss and elected to bowl first ----Vinohrady Biancos 66/4 (10 overs, RR: 6.6) Captain: Michael Londesborough ----Vinohrady Rossos 64/5 (10 overs, RR: 6.4) Captain: Edward Knowles

Player of the Match:

Nirmal Kumar Vinohrady Biancos Runs: 31 | Balls: 31 | 6s: 1 | 4s: 3 | S/R: 100 Wickets: 1 | Runs Against: 9 | Overs: 2

Vinohrady Biancos Batting

Nirmal Kumar | Runs: 31 | Balls: 31 | 6s: 1 | 4s: 3 | S/R: 100

Toby Haslam | Runs: 24 | Balls: 21 | 6s: 1 | 4s: 2 | S/R: 114.3

Vinohrady Biancos Bowling

Alex Sirisena 3/10 (2 Overs, RR: 5)

Nirmal Kumar 1/9 (2 Overs, RR: 4.5)

Vinohrady Rossos Batting

Siddarth Goud | Runs: 23 | Balls: 19 | 6s: 2 | 4s:  | S/R: 121.1

Shaun Dalton | Runs: 11 | Balls: 9 | 6s:  | 4s: 1 | S/R: 122.2

Vinohrady Rossos Bowling

Venkatesh Margasahayem 1/10 (2 Overs, RR: 5)

Kamal Singh 1/11 (1 Overs, RR: 11)

Umpires: Suresh Kuramboyina | Pradeep KG

Vinohrady Biancos wins and earn 2 points

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Prague Spartans Vanguards vs. Prague CC Knights | Group Match #6 ECN Czech Super Series Week 2 | T10

Prague CC Knights Wins by 7 wickets in Cloudy Conditions in Velvary

Prague Spartans Vanguards won the toss and elected to bat first ----Prague Spartans Vanguards 57/3 (10 overs, RR: 5.7) Captain: Neeraj Tyagi ----Prague CC Knights 58/3 (8.1 overs, RR: 7.1) Captain: Sujith Gopalakrishan

Player of the Match:

Neeraj Tyagi Prague Spartans Vanguards Wickets: 2 | Runs Against: 11 |Overs: 2

Prague Spartans Vanguards Batting

Prasannaa Ganesan | Runs: 32 | Balls: 27 | 6s: 1 | 4s: 1 | S/R: 118.5

Kranthi Venkataswamy | Runs: 10 | Balls: 19 | 6s:  | 4s: 1 | S/R: 52.6

Prague Spartans Vanguards Bowling

Neeraj Tyagi 2/11 (2 Overs, RR: 5.5)

Santhosh Bemmireddy 1/6 (2 Overs, RR: 3)

Prague CC Knights Batting

Naveen Padmaraju | Runs: 25 | Balls: 21 | 6s: 1 | 4s: 1 | S/R: 119

Kasi Balakrishnan | Runs: 19 | Balls: 19 | 6s: 1 | 4s:  | S/R: 100

Prague CC Knights Bowling

Joseph Johnson 1/7 (2 Overs, RR: 3.5)

Sone Neerolipadan 1/9 (2 Overs, RR: 4.5)

Umpires: Pete Vincent | Javed Iqbal Match Referee: Terry O'Connor

Prague CC Knights wins and earn 2 points