It didn't rain as weather reports had indicated but the mercury levels had dropped down a bit compared to past few days as AZTwenty20 Summer Cricket Tournament progressed into its fourth week. This week, Cavaliers and Metro Suns continued their unbeaten run in the tournament so far by defeating Metro Stars and Arizona Friends respectively. However the game of the week has to be the one where ACC won against Nawaabs by a single run making it the most exciting game so far. In other games KINGS, PCC, Valley Eagles won against Veerans, Spartans and Metro Champs respectively. This weekend also saw the best score by an individual so far (80* off 48 balls, Gopi Boinepally of KINGS against Veerans).

IMAGE GALLERY: Please click here to see the images from this week.

Game 1: KINGS Vs Veerans @ Chandler Ground:
In a game where two teams from the same club (Kingfishers Cricket Club) falling in the same BLUE group, toiled hard for a much needed win for both would be remembered for a breathtaking innings of 80* off 48 balls (6x5, 4x7), highest of the tournament so far, by Gopi Boinepally from KINGS. After winning the toss and electing to bat, Veerans did well for the first half of their innings as they only lost one wicket; however they could never accelerate towards the end and were bowled out rather dramatically for 125 in 19.1 overs. Srikanth 31 (1x4), Captain Arun Shankar 16 (1x4, 1x6), Bharath 22 (3x4) and opening batsman Subhash 13, all got off to a start but couldn't convert it to big enough to take Veerans to a bigger total. Rohan from KINGS claimed 3/24 and was well supported by Karan 1/18.

KINGS reply was all about Gopi Boinepally's innings as he constructed his innings beautifully and helped himself to a fiery 80*. The dominance of this inning is proven by the fact that the second highest score by Praveen, the other opener was 17. KINGS only lost two of its wickets, Praveen (17 off 21 balls) and Viral (9 off 11 balls), during the course of the run chase, claimed by Deepak (1/24) and Arun (1/17) respectively.

Brief Scores:

Toss: Veerans won the toss and elected to BAT first.
Kingfishers Veerans - 125 all out
Kingfishers KINGS - 127/2 in 15.3 overs
Detailed Scorecard: Click here to view.
Result: KINGS won by 8 wickets with 4.3 overs to spare.

Game 2: Cavaliers Vs Metro Stars @ Washington Park (E): After winning the toss, MET opted to bat first. CAVs trusted Bhaskar with the new ball in the absence of veteran Sharat and he reaped the opportunity on the very first ball with Mitesh catching Raj's off drive that stayed in the air. Barring the 3rd wicket stand between Rajan and Prashant, METs couldn't get a partnerships going and were soon 6/53 in the 10th over. Vrushank joined Bhargav in the rescue act but Amit Malik (3/20) and Ketan (1/19) both were very tidy and miser. Captain Dharmesh then turned to his spin bowlers. Nikhil obliged, grabbing Bhargav of his first ball, caught splendidly by Naren at long-on, and almost had Vrushank on ball 4, albeit a dropped catch at deep midwicket. Nikhil & Chandra, with brilliant support from the fielders ensured that METs were restricted to a misery 92 (15.4).

MET Bowlers fought hard, and gave CAVs a couple of early blows by snatching Anup and Dixon in quick succession. Chandra (15), with some un-orthodox blows, put on a vital 31 for the 3rd wicket and took the pressure off. But it was Dhanajay and his real class act, as he continued his magnificent form to score a rapid 34 (24 balls, 1X4, 3X6), who got the scores leveled. Mitesh (4*) and Naren (11*) completed the formalities to get CAVs on the top of the RED Group remaining undefeated so far.

Brief Scores:

Toss: Metro stars won the toss and elected to BAT first.
Metro Stars - 92 all out in 15.4 overs
Cavaliers - 96/5 in 14.1 overs
Detailed Scorecard: Click here to view.
Result: Cavaliers win by 5 wickets with 5.5 overs remaining.

Game 3: Metro Champs Vs Valley Eagles @ Washington Park (W):
Determined to break their losing streak, Metro Champs decided to bat after winning the toss. The opening batsman Ram scored a useful 28 (4x4) along with the middle order batsman Sayeed (12, 1x4). Apart from these two batsmen none of the Champs batsmen could reach double digits as their batting woes continued. However, they were greatly helped by 32 extras conceded by Valley eagles in posting a fighting total of 98. Bhargav and Vishnu both claimed 2/15 and 2/1 respectively and were instrumental in restricting Champs within 100.

Chasing 99, Valley eagles lost Iqbal and Bhargav early, followed by the run out of Kiran. In spite of many wickets falling in between, the middle order batsman Raghu's patient 12 off 23 balls and the debutant Vishnu's fighting 19 off 15 balls, helped eagles secure their first win in the tournament with last pair on the ground. Valley eagle's could stood up to the pressure this time when they needed 9 runs in last 5 overs with only their last pair on the wicket and didn't lose their way as they did when they played Veerans in the tournament opener. Ram was the best bowler for Champs as he claimed 3/17.

Brief Scores:

Toss: Metro Suns won the toss and elected to field first.
Valley Eagles - 98 all out in 17.4 overs
Metro Champs - 100/9 in 17.3 overs
Detailed Scorecard: Click here to view.
Result: Valley Eagles win by 1 wicket with 15 balls remaining.

Game 4: Kingfishers Nawaabs Vs Arizona Cricket Club@ Chandler Ground:
By far this game has been the most exciting and the closest of all the 20 games played so far as Arizona Cricket Club registered a last ball win over Nawaabs by the lowest margin possible (1 run) and kept its chances of making to the quarter alive.

Winning the toss, ACC decided to bat first and kept many wickets in hands, which helped them post a good total of 140/5. Jateen (41 off 43 balls), Captain Rod (32 off 34 balls), opener Santosh (15 off 20 balls) and Ankit (16* off 12 balls) were the run accumulators for ACC as Nawaabs eventually paid the price for some sloppy fielding coupled with a few dropped chances early on. Sanjay from Nawaabs once again continued his good bowling form claiming 2/19, well supported by Jagdish (0/23).

In an effort to win this game and increase their chances of making it to the quarter, Nawaabs put up a brilliant effort while chase even though they lost their first three wickets for just 35 within 7 overs. The Twenty20 champion batsman Sanjay Patel then launched a counterattack on ACC bowlers as he breezed along to a fiery 68 off 56 balls. His partner Chirag Vyas (24 off 20) supported him well from the other end. Nawaabs needed 28 off the last 3 overs, but a good spell from Satwant and Pradeep took the game to the last over as they needed 15 off it. Sanjay and Chirag both could score only 13 off this over as Nawaabs failed short of the target by just a single run.

Brief Scores:

Toss: ACC won the toss and elected to bat first.
Arizona Cricket Club - 140/5 in 20 overs
Kingfishers Nawaabs - 139/5 in 20 overs
Detailed Scorecard: Click here to view.
Result: ACC won by 1 run.

Game 5: Spartans Vs Phoenix Cricket Club @ Washington Park (E):
Spartans won the toss and elected to bat. Even though they lost the opener cum their captain Shankar and Venu early on, the other opener Madhu continued from where he had left in the last game against ACC and helped himself with a brisk 45 off 32 balls (6x4, 1x6). Abhijit 13 off 16 balls (3x4) and the vice captain Mitesh 28 off 23 balls (3x4) chipped in with useful contribution and a late assault 28 off 13 balls (2x4, 2x6) by the number 6 batsman Praveen made sure that Spartans posted a competitive total on a pitch where the ball was nicely coming onto the bat. Rehan Kazmi once again was the best bowler for PCC claiming 2/20.

Chasing 141, PCC lost their openers Saurabh and Senthil to Shankar and Venugopal early on, but then Niranjan Dravid (15, 3x4), Ankit (27, 3x4) and Varun (18, 1x4) played sensibly and brought PCC back into the game. Then the all rounder Andy Payne (24, 1x4) and Rehan Kazmi (18, 3x4) took PCC to winning score as Spartans doing well for most part of the games conceded 32 runs in the 16th and 17th overs and eventually lost the game to PCC by 3 wickets. Mitesh, the vice captain bowled well under pressure as he conceded only 17 in three overs claiming all the more important wicket of Ankit who was looking in ominous touch.

Brief Scores:

Toss: Spartans Blue won the toss and elected to bat first.
Spartans- 140/9 in 20 overs.
Phoenix Cricket Club - 142/7 in 18.3 overs
Detailed Scorecard: Click here to view.
Result:, PCC wins by 3 wickets.

Game 6: Metro Suns Vs Arizona Friends @ Washington (W):
Batting first, Arizona Friends posted a fighting total of 140/10 in 17.4 overs thanks largely to a tremendous knock of 69 (4x7, 5x6), the second highest of the tournament so far, by Kamran. It was a great knock as he received little support from Vick Sandhu (12), Bilal (10) and Tufail (10*) as he raced alone to his fifty in style. Once he returned to pavilion, friends followed suit immediately. Once again Abhi was the pick of the bowlers for Metros as he continued his terrific bowling form claiming 4/21. The leg spinner Ganti also claimed 2/14.

Metro Suns didn't have any problem chasing the total even though Kamran cleaned the opener Rajgopalan in the second over for a duck. Sanjit continued his batting form as he scored 47 (8x4) and other middle order batsmen Prabhat (10), Vivek (26), Nitin (29*) and Naveed (12*), played well under the circumstances and Metros didn't had any problem in surpassing the total with 23 balls to spare, remaining unbeaten so far in the BLUE group.

Brief Scores:

Toss: Metro Suns won the toss and elected to field first.
Arizona Friends - 142 all out in 17.4 overs
Metro Suns - 142/4 in 16.1 overs
Detailed Scorecard: Click here to view.
Result: Suns won by 6 wickets with 3.5 overs to spare.

Metro Suns replaced Ocean's blue at the top of the BLUE GROUP based on NRR. KINGS and Arizona Friends rank 3rd and 4th respectively. Cavalier tops the RED GROUP followed by Metro Stars and Phoenix Cricket Club. Kingfishers Veerans and Metro Champs touch the bottom of the BLUE GROUP while same goes for Arizona Cricket Club and Tucson Cricket Club in RED GROUP. Please Click Here to see the points table.