HOLYWOOD seconds won the NCU Minor Qualifying Cup with a 16-run victory over Victoria seconds at The Mall in Armagh on Saturday.
Batting first, Holywood were led by Richard Hope, whose 49 runs made him the leading run scorer in the competition, with 210 from three innings.
Further contributions came from Puskar Pun (27), Shah Ata (30) and Dan Fletcher (27).
The total of 190 for 6, from 30 overs, seemed about par against a disciplined Victoria team, who fielded well and saved many boundaries.
In response, Victoria were put under pressure by Holywood’s Ali Khan Sherwani, who was on a hat-trick in the opening over, but Muhammad Bhandara fought fire with fire, striking the ball fiercely and Victoria to 59 for 2 after seven overs.
At that point, Madison Landsman began a fine spell of leg-spin bowling, which quickly claimed the wicket of Robert Black, with the left-hander bowled through the gate.
Richard Snodgrass took a fine catch at extra cover to remove Viswanathan Vanaraja, but Victoria stayed in touch with the required run-rate, as Bhandara reached 50 off 31 balls.
At the start of the 12th over, Bhandara went searching for one too many and was stumped off Landsman’s bowling.
That brought the introduction of Rithwik Mandody, who swept aggressively to put Holywood back under pressure and take Victoria to 129 for 6 off 20 overs.
The breakthrough was made by Puskar Pun, whose tidy off-breaks slowed the scoring and eventually led Mandody to sky one to Landsman on the boundary.
Holywood returned to their seamers, whose controlled lines created pressure and led to a tight run-out, courtesy of James Atkinson.
In the end, Holywood won by 16 runs, while Victoria’s Bhandara was named man of the match for his 50 runs and four for 31 off six overs.
