Anantapur Women's team putting up a brave show in the KE Madhana Tournament

Anantapur District vs Kaddapa District

The Anantapur Sports Academy was privileged to witness women cricketers from all the south zone districts of Andhra Pradesh during the recently concluded K.E Madhana Tournament, 2015. A total of 5 districts graced the tournament, which was played from 2ndto 7th of August, 2015. The Tournament holds a lot of stake as performing players get an opportunity to represent south zone at the upcoming Andhra Cricket Association (ACA) Senior Women Inter- Zonal Tournament.

On 2nd August, Anantapur took on Kurnool district at the main ground of the Anantapur Sports Village (ASV) in their first encounter by winning the toss and decided to bat first. The batswomen were unable to post a decent score, getting bundled out for a meagre 149 runs in their stipulated 50overs. The only bright spot in their innings was P. Pallavi’s 43 not out. The bowlers on the other hand, had their work cut out in defending the small target. The Kurnool batswomen started out on a cautious note but quickly gained momentum due to some lacklustre bowling performance by the home team. Despite the home team having a good mixture of both batswoman and bowlers in their armoury, they could not stop Kurnool form winning the match handsomely.

On ASV’s B ground, Kaddapa was taking on Nellore for their first match of the tournament. The Kaddapa team batted marvellously and piled up a huge score of 301 in their 50 overs by virtue of an excellent batting display by N. Roja, who stuck a century. Nellore could not sustain the scoreboard pressure, being bundled out for just 85 runs.

The second day of the tournament saw Anantapur women locking horns with the Kaddapa women’s team on the B ground. Anantapur, having won the toss, elected to bat first.They managed to reach a respectable score of 194 runs in their stipulated overs with equal contributions from the batting line-up. Mounika and Diva shree shared 2 wickets among themselves from Kaddapa. The batswomen of Kaddapa never really stood up from their last match defeat, and were woefully short on confidence. They could only manage a total 64 runs, giving Anantapur a massive win.

Champions Kurnool District with their Trophy

The main ground saw Chittoor taking on Nellore with both the teams having some quality players in their line ups. Chittoor, having batted first, scored 143 runs in their allotted overs. In reply, Nellore could only manage 114 runs before being bundled out. It was a comprehensive win for Chittoor in the end.

Anantapur next had to take on Chittoor at the Vincent De Paul ground. Chittoor won the toss and decided to bat first. The Anantapur bowlers bowled well, which saw a brilliant spell from Fakrunnisa, who took 3 wickets and restricted the opposition to 133 runs. It was now time for the batswomen of Anantapur, but they fell short, getting out cheaply for 114 runs.

The B ground saw a spectacular performance from the Kurnool side as they made mockery of the bowling attack of Kaddapa. Chandralekha scored a run a ball 153 runs and was well supported by her bowlers. It was an easy win for Kurnool.

The tournament had now reached its business end with matches lined up between Kaddapa and Chitoor as well as Kurnool and Nellore. The matches were won by Kaddapa and Nellore respectively.

The concluding day saw the home team facing up against Nellore and Chittoor taking on Kurnool. Anantapur secured a win due to some good bowling performance from Salma bhanu, while Kurnool registered an easy win by virtue of a brilliant century from G. Saranya.

Runners up Anantapur Team with their Trophy

Kurnool was the table topper and was hence declared the Champions, with Anantapur being the runners-up by virtue of a better run rate than Chittoor.Sri Machha Ramalinga Reddy and Mr Pagadala Mallikarjuna, both Vice Presidents of Anantapur District Cricket Association (ADCA), was present to honour the Champions.