Sarpang Strikers humbled Dragon Strikers from Thimphu by 51 runs in the final of Bhutan Cricket Council Board (BCCB) Women’s T20 championship at Pelkhil Oval in Thimphu yesterday to win the championship for two consecutive years.

Sarpang Strikers bagged the champions’ title in the inaugural edition of the national club level championship last year.

Sarpang Strikers and Dragon Strikers entered the final with equal points after double league round. Dragon Strikers defeated Sarpang Strikers in the first league round.

However, while the two met for the second time in the tournament on July 6, Sarpang Strikers defeated Dragon Strikers by seven wickets to hand the team the first defeat of the championship.

Dragon Strkers reached the final despite playing the championship for the first time.

Sarpang Strikers won the toss and opted to bat first.

Sonam Paldon and Pema Selden opened the batting for Sarpang Strikers in the first innings.

Sarpang Strikers saw first wicket fall at 27 runs when Pema Selden suffered wicket fall with five runs at eight overs.

Karma Samten and skipper Anju Gurung set the run to 80 at 14 overs. The inning saw Anju Gurung win the highest 37 runs from 32 balls. Tshering Zangmo who came in place of Karma Samten at 14 overs won 27 runs out of 19 balls to end the first innings.

With the run rate at 6.95 runs per over, Sarpang Strikers set the run target at 139 runs for Dragon Strikers. Dechen Wangmo of Dragon strikers won two wickets from 20 balls. Teammate Yeshey Choden won two from 30 balls at the end of first innings.

“We lost the first match to them in this championship but we were hoping to win today. It took time for the team to get adapted to the field experience. As the championship went on we were getting to our best form,” said Anju Gurung of Sarpang Strikers.

The second innings saw Dragon Strikers suffer early fall of first wicket within two overs. Ugyen Dema and Yeshey Choden went out with two and four runs each respectively.

The bowling and fielding of Sarpang strikers picked the pace and played only about 15 of the toatl 20 overs to seal the game. Dragon Strikers could win 81 runs at 15.4 overs with all wickets outs. Sarpang Strikers won the final with 51 runs.

In the last three matches played between the two, Sarpang Strikers won two matches.

“It feels good to win. We expected to win the championship because we are the defending champions. Most players were from the squad that won the inaugural edition last year,” said Anju Gurung.

Sarpang Strikers won a cash prize of Nu 150,000. Dragon Strikers took home Nu 100,000.

Yeshey Choden of Dragon strikers was named the player of the tournament.

Four teams from Paro, Thimphu, and Punakha competed for the championship this year.

Nima

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