The long-anticipated Sierra Leone Senior Men’s Cricket Premier League final hit fruition on Sunday as Special Line Cricket Club retained their championship title with an enjoyable 23-run win at the Kingtom Police Oval in Freetown.
It was the men in blue, the Officers who won the toss and chose to field. In clear skies, Special Line posted 110 runs all out in 20 overs amid a major opening order collapse, which remained flattened well into the late order until Captain George Sesay reloaded the barrel and charged on to the finish line.
With a scoreline, seems possible to chase, the Officers were in full confidence and it was them who got the second inning underway by protecting the crease.
Desperate for a better and good reply in high spirits, they were however limited to 87 runs all out in 17.3 overs, as the Special Force squeezed them using corrosive spinners. Short in target, short in runs, the Officers bowed to the twist of fate, duck-walking to the dugout with their cuffs hanging loosely.
Team grace over, personal league performance took to the fore. Lansana Lamin from Asian Lions pulled off the Best Batsman post, scoring 221 runs for a 141.67 strike rate. George Edward Ngegba from Special Line won Best Bowler, picking up 21 wickets for a 3.89 bowling economy. The best Fielder went to teammate John Bangura, who dismissed 10 batters.
Fifty-two sixes, 373 fours, and 29 maidens in this tournament have shown significant improvement in the overall structure of Cricket Sierra Leone’s league system.
The 7-team tournament brought together players with redefined cricket pedigrees for a 25-match bustling, recording 50 innings and 4683 runs with 77 catches distributed across safe hands.
