Our final event of another action-packed year, FanCode ECS Malta Encore provides an opportunity for ten leading Maltese teams to showcase their skills on the magnificent island of Malta, contesting 47 games over 12 days. Every game will be live streamed worldwide on the European Cricket Network and on FanCode - a multi-sport aggregator platform, from the house of Dream Sports for the Indian Sub-Continent.
European Cricket Network live broadcasts four T10 matches on Day 10 of the 2021 FanCode ECS Malta Encore on Thursday 2 December.
At two points each, Gozo and Royal Strikers will be aiming to nail down the final quarter-final spot in the final day of the group stage action.
Group B
AUM American University of Malta (7-1, NRR+3.026)
AUK Atlas UTC Knights (4-1-1, NRR+1.628)
MAR Marsa (2-3-1, NRR+0.362)
GOZ Goz (1-5, NRR-2.462)
RST Royal Strikers (1-5, NRR-3.076)
__________________
MATCH 37 (ECS21.912)
MARSA (MAR) v GOZO (GOZ)
0730 GMT | 0830 CET | 1300 IST
MATCH 38 (ECS21.913)
MARSA (MAR) v GOZO (GOZ)
0930 GMT | 1030 CET | 1500 IST
MAR Last Five Matches: L L L W W (Avg Score For 86, Avg Score Against 82)
GOZ Last Five Matches: L L L W L(Avg Score For 65, Avg Score Against 90)
MARSA (MAR)
Captain: Haroon Mughal
Wicketkeeper: John Grima
Projected Top Four: Fanyan Mughal, Zeeshan Khan, Niraj Khanna, Gurjeet Singh
Projected Opening Bowlers: Fazil Khan, Waseem Abbas
Spin Options: Sidharth Anand
MARSA Key Players:
Nowell Khosla, a handy all-rounder, is a natural strokemaker with the bat and a quality spin bowler. Second highest scorer for MAR racking up 69 runs in five innings.
Fanyan Mughal, right handed bat and left arm medium pacer, top scorer for MAR muscling 81 runs in five innings. Has picked up a couple of wickets as well.
Haroon Mughal, right arm spinner, the skipper is leading from the front picking up FIVE wickets in six games with a best return of 3-8.
Waseem Abbas, national team opening bowler, gets good movement off the seam, his height helps extract good bounce off the pitch that troubles batters. Has picked up a couple of wickets in four games at an ER of seven.
GOZO (GOZ)
Captain: Jerin Jacob
Wicketkeeper: Senthil Raj
Projected Top Four: Joshby Job, Indika Perera, Milton Devasia, Aji Wilson
Projected Opening Bowlers: Rishal Simon, Rafeeque Mohammed
Spin Options: Milton Devasia, Ajeesh Antony
GOZO Key Players:
Sandeep Sasikumar, the right arm fast bowler was the most impressive GOZ bowler. Joint top wicket taker for Gozo scalping FIVE wickets in six games.
Senthil Raj, the all-rounder, highest scorer for Gozo racking up 65 runs in five innings.
Sandesh Khatri, right arm spinner, joint top wicket taker for GOZ picking up FIVE wickets in four games with a best return of 3-17.
Aji Wilson, decent all-rounder, has picked up FOUR wickets and has scored 35 runs in six games.
Gozo and Marsa lock horns for the first time in ECS. Both sides struggled initially but have managed to get points on the board. That said, previous ECS winners Marsa will start favourites to clinch this double header.
Match Prediction: Marsa (MAR) to rack up a couple of wins over Gozo.
__________________
MATCH 39 (ECS21.914)
ATLAS UTC KNIGHTS (AUK) v ROYAL STRIKERS (RST)
1130 GMT | 1230 CET | 1700 IST
MATCH 40 (ECS21.915)
ATLAS UTC KNIGHTS (AUK) v ROYAL STRIKERS (RST)
1330 GMT | 1430 CET | 1900 IST
AUK Last Five Matches: WW W W L(Avg Score For 103, Avg Score Against 87)
RST Last Five Matches: L L L LW(Avg Score For 65, Avg Score Against 96)
ATLAS UTC KNIGHTS (AUK)
Captain: Sujesh Appu
Wicketkeeper: Avinash Dileep
Projected Top Four: Samuel Stanislaus, Manoj Panicker, Basil George, Avinash Dileep
Projected Opening Bowlers: Asif Sha, Justin Shaju
Spin Options: Samuel Stanislaus
ATLAS UTC KNIGHTS Key Players:
Basil George, star all-rounder, powerhouse of AUK with the bat, has the ability to smash all around the park. Has scored 95 runs and picked up TWO wickets in four games so far.
Samuel Stanislaus, Knight's Mr Dependable, has been the leading run scorer for AUK in both the previous ECS editions. He can also roll his arm when needed. Top scorer for AUK racking up 117 in five innings including a 30-ball 51* vs Gozo.
Avinash Dileep, wicket keeper batter, second highest scorer for AUK racking up 102 runs in five innings.
Sujesh Appu, AUK skipper, has bowled brilliantly so far sticking to tight line and lengths. Top wicket taker for AUK scalping FIVE wickets.
ROYAL STRIKERS (RST)
Captain: Savio Thomas
Wicketkeeper: Manuel Jobi
Projected Top Four: Rejit Abraham, Livin Varghese, Kushlesh Koppaka, Manuel Jobi
Projected Opening Bowlers: Rubin James, Jaison Jerome
Spin Options: Ashwin Raju, Jaimon Johnson
ROYAL STRIKERS Key Players:
Livin Varghese, right handed batter, second highest scorer for RST scoring 50 runs. Returned player of the match against Gozo for his valuable contribution of 19 off 11 balls.
Kushlesh Koppaka, valuable all-rounder, top scorer for RST racking up 66 runs in six innings. Has also picked up THREE wickets.
Rubin James, right arm fast bowler, top wicket taker for RST picking up SIX wickets in six games.
After losing five straight games, Royal Strikers managed to get that elusive win. RST now face a strong AUK side but will take confidence from the fact that they beat AUK in an incredible low scoring thriller in their last meeting and will be keen for a similar performance.
Last time they met: ECS21.473 | RST 67 def AUK 48 (24 Jun 2021)
Match Prediction: Atlas UTC Knights (AUK) to win both the games.