The SG Crimsons won the Inaugural Mariners Elite Player 50 Over Series on the 3^rd of March 2019 after defeating the SG Stars by 6 wickets and also winning within 41 overs to overcome the Star’s NRR to come out top of the table.

The SG Crimsons won the toss and elected to bowl first on what was thought to be a sticky wicket. The opening bowlers of Janak Prakash and Tafara Chingwara could not curb the flurry off runs as Stars batters Mutreja and Virandeep Singh went on the offensive. The SG Crimsons had no answers as the pair continued their dominance on the flat pitch and put on an imposing 179 run partnership in just 26.4 overs. The breakthrough came off a solitary over from Suryawanshi who took a simple return catch off Mutreja just as he reached his 100 off 89 balls. The breakthrough brought some reprieve for the Crimsons bowlers as they slowly worked themselves back into the game and after dismissing Stars skipper Gaznavi, took the crucial wicket of Virandeep Singh, caught behind after a sharp delivery from Chingwara, bringing an end to a well-crafted 76 off 93 balls. From then on, the SG Stars began their capitulation and were finally all out for 256 in 45 overs. Opening bowlers Prakash and Chingwara coming back strongly to take 6 wickets between them after conceding heavily in their opening overs.

With the SG Stars having a superior run rate as the start of the match and with the SG Crescents out of the equation, a win alone for the SG Stars would have sufficed to take the series. The SG Crimsons however had to chase down 257 within 44 overs to overcome the SG Stars NRR. Things could not have been started better for the Crimsons with the in form Rangarajan taking charge from the word go, hitting his first ball of the day for six over long off. The tone was set for the 19-year-old Rangarajan as he took on all the SG Stars bowling attack had to throw at him while opening partner Motlhanka rotated the strike.  Motlhanka departed in the 13^th over for an anchor role of 15 (28) but things did not stop there for Rangarajan as now paired with Navin Param, the SG Stars bowlers could not make any headway as the pair took the score to 183 in the 27^th over and even as Navin Param left the middle with 34 (44) and a quick flurry of wickets saw Suryawanshi and Prasheen Param back in the pavilion, Rangarajan’s rampage showed now signs of slowing down as he kept the foot on the pedal and saw the game off in 37.4 overs as he walked off to the cheers of his team mates sitting on 153* off 123 balls which consisted of 15 boundaries and 9 sixes. The SG Crimsons taking the series after losing their first two 50 overs matches and then picking up the pace with two commanding wins which saw them leapfrog the Stars and Crescents to the top of the table on NRR after all having been tied on 6 points apiece.

Along with the Player of the Match, Rohan Rangarajan also picked up the Batter of the Series with 208 runs off 3 innings while the lanky Zimbabwean pace bowler from the SG Crimsons, Tafara Chingwara was awarded the Bowler of the Series for his 11 wickets off 4 matches. The SG Stars opening batsman, Arjun Mutreja, did not leave empty handed as he was named Player of the Series for his 226 runs in 3 innings which consisted of two centuries.

The T20 Series will be contested next on the 14^th of March 2019 as two more group stage matches remain to determine the finalists. The SG Crescents and the SG Stars will play the SG Crimsons once each in the group stages on the 5^th and 7^th of March at IA.

The SG Stars wasted a golden opportunity to be in the inaugural winners of the Mariners EPS 50 Over Series by losing their third match of the series to the SG Crescents played on the 2^nd of March 2019. Having already won their first two matches and sitting on the top of the pile with 6 points, one more win would have been enough to see the SG Stars finish the campaign as champions even with a fourth match remaining.

Batting first, the SG Stars found themselves 15/2 in just 3.4 overs, U19s off spinner Vinit Mehta and James Cox taking a wicket a piece of Mallik and the Malaysian Virandeep Singh. A decent recovery by Mutreja and Gaznavi came to an end when Mutreja 20 (35) was out LBW to the off spinners of Mukasa. From then on, a lone hand of Kshitij Shinde of 72 (99) was the only innings of substance for the SG Stars as they were all out in the 46^th over for 170. Roger Mukasa once again coming to the fore with the ball in conceding just 29 runs in his 10 overs and claiming two scalps in the process.

The SG Crescents chase started in the best way possible as the opening pair of Dutta and Mukasa put on a 105-run opening stand up till Dutta was out caught and bowled to Virandeep Singh.  By this time, the SG Crescents looked to be in complete control of their chase as Mukasa bided him time to work the ball around and bank on his key shots to score boundaries. Even as Crescents skipper Manpreet Singh departed, caught behind and becoming Virandeep’s second victim, the young Vinit Mehta given a chance at number four played a good supporting role to Mukasa in the chase scoring a run a ball 17 before being dismissed by Rangaswamy. It was all too late for the Stars by this point and Mukasa remained unbeaten on 85 * as the SG Crescents won by 7 wickets. Roger Mukasa continuing his rich vein of form and claiming his third man of the match in the Mariners EPS Series.

The SG Stars left ruing losing a match which would have sealed the 50 over series and will now have to play the SG Crimsons on the 3^rd of March 2019 at IA which would be the decider as the SG Crescents are out of the race on the account of the lowest NRR of all three teams and having already having played all their matches. While the SG Stars have a slight advantage with NRR even if they were to lose the match, they would not want to leave it to chance and win their final fixture and end their 50 Over Series campaign on a high while the SG Crimsons will go all out to clinch the series themselves after recovering from two losses and a big win to put themselves back into contention.

The SG Crimsons bounced back after a disappointing loss in their previous match against the SG Stars. Playing the SG Crescents on the 26^th of February 2018 at IA, the Crimsons won the toss and elected to field.

The SG Crimsons countered a quick onslaught of runs by snaring three Crescent wickets with 48 runs on the board off just 5.4 overs. With a fourth wicket and the score at 65/4, the Crimsons seemed to have reined things back and looked to be in good position to curtail the Crescents for a score below 130. The burly forms of Aryaman Uchil and Anantha Krishna had different ideas as the pair unleashed a flurry of hard hitting and helped themselves to scores of 51 (44) and 42 (26) respectively as the Crescents ended their innings on 162/6. The pair had hit a total of 8 sixes between them.  The Crimsons bowlers sharing the wickets while Kenneth Waiswa doing well to keep an economy of 5.5 in his 4 overs.

The SG Crimsons broke with routine and sent the aggressive Chetan Suryawanshi to partner Rohan Rangarajan  to try and take advantage of the power play and the excellent batting conditions. The ploy didn’t work as Suryawanshi was out just two balls in when he failed to clear the mid on fielder off Amjad Mahboob. With the score at 3/1 in just 0.3 overs and with Prasheen Param struggling from a hip injury sustained while fielding, the chase did not look like it was going to end well for the SG Crimsons.  Navin Param came into deputise for his brother and the two youngsters in the middle took control and showed impressive batsmanship as they stole quick singles and put away loose balls with authority, not letting the Crescents bowlers settle. Rohan Rangarajan was finally run out at 42 (29) in the 11^th over , leaving Crimsons on 97/2. Just as the chase was looking to go the Crimsons way, two quick wickets lost in the space of a run saw the Crimsons now sitting on a precarious 98/4 in the 12^th over. Navin Param being dismissed for 47 (40) in the 14th over and the score at 112/5 looked like the Crescents had now won back the initiative. The injured Prasheen Param joined the stocky Manoj Yadav out in the middle and put on an excellent batting display with the latter scoring a quickfire and bold 37* (22) which saw the Crimsons home in 18.2 overs and winning by 5 wickets.

Anantha Krishna from the SG Crescents bringing some joy to his team by being nominated player of the match for his 42 (26) and 2 wicket haul. The SG Crimsons now boast 3 wins out of 4 in the group stages and sit comfortably on top of the pile while the SG Crescents and SG Stars have a win each.

The SG Crimsons put up another clinical performance in their second T20 match of the series as they took on the SG Crescents on the 14^th of February 2019 at IA. Losing the toss and being asked to field first, the SG Crimsons reduced the SG Stars to 30/2 in 4.6 overs and has to work a little harder for their next breakthrough in the 10^th over when Surendran Chandramohan fell, bowled by the young leg spinner Pramesh Singhavi for 29 (34). Crescents skipper, Manpreet Singh held fort and scored a crucial 57 (47) before being run out as the SG Crescents finished on 130/7. U19s leg spinner, Pramesh Singhavi impressing with his figures of 3/22.

The SG Crimsons picked up where they left off in the last T20 fixtures with the opening batting pair of Motlhanka and Rangarajan keeping the scoreboard ticking over with some lusty blows and quick singles. Even as the more subdued Motlhanka fell for a run a ball 15 in the 5^th over after an ill-judged run, the Crimsons looked to be in no bother as Prasheen Param 34 * (32) picked up the pace from the word go and paired with the in form Rangarajan who dominated the Crescents bowling attack with 72* off 56 balls, took Crimsons home with another 9 wickets victory. Rohan Rangarajan named man of the match for the second T20 match in a row.

The in-form Crimsons now took it upon themselves to stage a recovery in the 50 over series in where they had lost their first two opening matches in their third match played on the 16^th of February 2019 at IA.Losing the toss once again however, the Crimsons were put in to field as the returning skipper, Janak Prakash led his team out to take on the batting of the SG Crescents once again.

The Crescents never really got going in their inning as the Crimsons bowlers not only took wickets but also choked their opponents for runs. At the 21^st over, the Crescents sat on 75/4 and more wickets fell until the stodgy Karthikeyan Subramanian came in at 6 and staged a mini recovery of sorts in taking the Crescents to a respectable 205/8 in 50 overs in scoring a patient 68 (83). Crimsons skipper, Janak Prakash taking 3/45 in his 10 overs.

The SG Crimsons took charge from ball one in their chase as Motlhanka and Rangarajan once again applied pressure on the fielding team with quick singles and dispatching balls to the boundaries. Motlhanka was happy to play anchor as Rangarajan smashed his way to 55 (49) before being caught one handed to his right by a diving Aritra Dutta at point. Prasheen Param was soon dismissed to another good catch by keeper Manpreet for 12 (18) and with the Crimsons now sitting on 121/2 in just 19 overs, Chetan Surywanshi took it upon himself to improve the NRR by clubbing a audacious 58* (34) while Motlhanka also went on to score his half century with 52*(82), Crimsons winning with another dominating 8 wickets. Rohan Rangarajan winning his third MOM in three consecutive matches for the Crimsons.

The SG Stars and SG Crescents will play next on the 19^th of February 2019 in the T20 series at IA at 7.30pm while the SG Crimsons enjoy a 5 day break before their next fixture on the 21^st of February.