The third week of theAZTwenty20 Summer Cricket Tournament saw the domination of Metro Stars, Metro Suns and Oceans blue as they continued their winning streak by beating Nawaabs, Valley Eagles and Metro Champs respectively. It also witnessed the revival of Spartans and Phoenix Cricket club as after losing their opening games, they came back strongly and registered their first win against Arizona Cricket Club and Tucson Cricket Club respectively.

IMAGE Gallery : To view all the pictures, please Click Here.

Game 1: Phoenix Cricket Club Vs Tucson Cricket Club @ Chandler Ground:
PCC won the toss and put TCC to bat. The opener Srinivas (35 off 34 balls, 4x8) and the middle order batsman Parijat (17 off 34 balls, 1x4) were the only batsmen from TCC to reach respectable double digits as the rest of the batsman struggled to play the PCC bowlers. However, 29 extras, the second highest contributor in TCC innings helped them post a respectable total of 117/7 in 20 overs. PCC bowlers Saurabh, Sunny, Varun and Rehan picked up 1/24, 2/27, 1/18 and 2/19 respectively.

Chasing 117, PCC lost their openers Saurabh and Sunny rather cheaply as they found themselves in a tough situation. However, Niranjan Dravid (22, 4x4) once again continued his great form with the BAT and he together with the veteran Greg (22, 4x4) rescued PCC. Ankit Shashtri's valuable 23 runs towards the end, well supported by Rehan's 6 took PCC home despite the threatening lower order collapse for the second time in consecutive games. Sandeep was the best bowler from TCC who claimed 3/15 in 3.4 overs. Highlight of his bowling was the removal of two set batsmen in Greg and Ankit at the tight time.

Brief Scores:

Toss: PCC won the toss and elected to field first.
Tucson Cricket Club - 117 all out
Phoenix Cricket Club - 120/8 in 18.4 overs
Detailed Scorecard: Click here to view.
Result: PCC won by 2 wickets.

Game 2: Kingfishers Nawaabs Vs Metro Stars @ Washington Park (E):
Winning the toss and asking Metros to bat first, Nawaabs seemed to do well as they knocked metros top three batsmen for 13 runs. After that Rajan Kale (25 off 17) and Arun (19 off 20) led the counter attack for metros as they quickly added 39 runs off mere 20 balls for the 4th wicket. Once Rajan departed, Bhargav (11 off 11), Tariq (18 off 21) and Vrushank (16 off 13) batted sensibly to ensure that Metros ended up to a safe total of 127 before they were all out thanks to a good last spell by Chirag (3/20). Naveen (2/13), Sanjay (1/20) and Jags (2/23) continued their good form with the bowl for Nawaabs.

Nawaabs were nowhere in the run chase as they quickly succumb to 21/5 partly because of the inexperienced batting line up and largely because of the tight line and length to which Venkat (4/8), Rajan (1/9) and Bhargav (1/9) bowled. Sanjay and Chirag from Nawaabs gave some hopes at the end but got out at the right time. Chirag from Nawaabs was too brutal for Anshu and Farhan as he raced along to a fiery 27 off just 19 balls (3x4, 1x6), but it was only a matter of time as Nawaabs folded to a meager 65.

Brief Scores:

Toss: Nawaabs won the toss and elected to field first.
Metro Stars - 127 all out in 18.5 overs
Nawaabs - 65 all out in 15.2 overs
Detailed Scorecard: Click here to view.
Result: Metro Stars win by 62 runs.

Game 3: Metros Suns Vs Valley Eagles @ Washington Park (W):
Metros Suns won the toss and put Valley Eagles to bat. Eagles cracked 32 runs without a loss in no time and they seem to be in a hurry, but that was all for them in this game as they completely succumbed to the tight line and length of the opening bowler Ravi and the fiery spell of Abhi. Ravi ended up with a spell of 6/9, by far the best bowling spell of the tournament. On the other hand, Abhi, brought as the first change bowler, took 4 wickets without conceding a single run in 2.3 overs including a maiden hat trick of the tournament. Eagles were soon bundled out for 60 and the Metro stars chased the target in 9.1 overs for the loss of only 1 wicket (Rajgopalan, 12). Sanjit (17*) and Prabhat (25*) completed the formalities as Metro Suns continued their winning streak by beating Valley eagles comprehensively by 9 wickets.

Brief Scores:

Toss: Metro Suns won the toss and elected to field first.
Valley Eagles - 60 all out in 11.3 overs
Metro Suns - 64/1 in 9.1 overs
Detailed Scorecard: Click here to view.
Result: Metro Suns win by 9 wickets.

Game 4: Spartans Vs Arizona Cricket Club@ Chandler Ground:
After losing their first game to Nawaabs closely, Spartans came back strongly to beat ACC by a big margin of 70 runs. An attacking opening partnership between Madhu (65 off 43 balls, 13x4, 1x6) and the Spartans captain Shankar (24 off 18 balls, 2x4) took Spartans to 96 without loss in just 10 overs as they threatened to post a target in excess of 200. But as soon as both openers fell in quick succession, they lost the middle order batsmen Abhijit, Nihar and Balaji rather cheaply. However, Mitesh (29 off 30 balls, 4x4) and Arun (19 off 17 balls, 2x2) hold their nerves and took Spartans to the second highest total of the tournament so far (170/5).

Arizona Cricket Club was no where near the chase as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals and finally folded out for 100 runs in the 19th over. Jateen and Pradeep scored 23 and 22 runs respectively for ACC while all the bowlers Spartans tried struck gold with at least a wicket in their pocket.

Brief Scores:

Toss: Spartans won the toss and elected to bat first.
Spartans - 170/5 in 20 overs
Arizona Cricket Club - 100 all out in 18.1 overs
Detailed Scorecard: Click here to view.
Result: Spartans win by 70 runs.

Game 5: Metros Champs Vs Oceans Blue @ Washington Park (E):
Metro Champs were once again bundled out cheaply as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals after Oceans put them to BAT and were folded out for 62.

The target was a simple one but the new find Abhijit for Metro champs bowled with lots of guts and posed a threat before Oceans as he removed the opening batsman SAI and the number three batsman Jeevan in quick succession for ducks. Oceans were left reeling at 0/2 after the first 4 balls of the second innings and the game seemed to get interesting. However, Ajay and Dutta led a counterattack immediately and took Oceans to a comfortable position. Once Ajay got out, the new batsman Trushant attacked the other bowlers from Champs and Oceans completed the formalities in 8.2 overs.

Brief Scores:

Toss: Oceans Blue won the toss and elected to field first.
Metro Champs - 62 all out.
Oceans Blue - 63/5 in 8.2 overs
Detailed Scorecard: Click here to view.
Result: Oceans Blue win by 5 wickets.

Ocean's blue still tops the BLUE GROUP followed by Metro Suns and Arizona Friends while Metro Stars tops the RED GROUP followed by Cavaliers and Spartans. Valley Eagles and Metro Champs touch the bottom of the BLUE GROUP after losing both of their games while same goes for Arizona Cricket Club and Tucson Cricket Club in RED GROUP. Please Click Here to see the points table.