Medium pacer V. Akhil Dev etched his name into the record books by taking the first hat-trick in the Kerala Cricket League (KCL) at the Greenfield stadium on Monday. His memorable moment came in the 17th over of the Alleppey Ripples’ innings. After being hit for a six by Alfi Francis, Akhil had his revenge when he had the batter top-edging a shot to wicket-keeper Ajinas. He then trapped Fanoos in front and yorked impact sub Vinoop Manoharan to complete his hat-trick.
Calicut Globstars rode on an exemplary bowling performance to crush Alleppey Ripples by six wickets and take the second spot in the points table. Put into bat on a surface that favored spinners, Ripples crumbled to 19 for five and was bundled out for 90. Globstars chased down the target with 49 balls to spare for a third win.
In another match, Trivandrum Royals owed its win to captain Abdul Basith, who smashed an unbeaten 50 to carry his side to a five-wicket victory over Kochi Blue Tigers. The win helped Royals move from the bottom to the third place in the table. Chasing 131, the Royals top-order failed to fire, and it slipped to 55 for four in the 13th over when Basith joined A.K. Akarsh in the middle. Basith swung the contest in favor of Royals when he clubbed four consecutive sixes over mid-wicket off right-arm spinner Shine John Jacob in the 14th over. Basith and Akarsh (25) added 86 for the fifth wicket.
Earlier, Royals picked up wickets at regular intervals to keep the Tigers in check. T. Nikhil played a cameo 37 off 20 balls. Medium-pacer Vinod Kumar (4/16) and Basith (3/23) were the standout bowlers for Royals.
