NPCA Women’s League: Leaders Panthers paired against Titans as action heads to Jamhuri

Sikh Union is set to host the third week of Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association (NPCA) Women’s League where eight teams resume the hunt for the coveted title with vim and vigor.

Leaders Stray Panthers have two fixtures against South Zone Queens on Saturday and two on Sunday against Silver Cheetah and Nairobi Titans.

Panthers dislodged SCLPS Ladies from the log summit and hope to maintain their dogged campaign in search of the coveted NPCA silverware.

And having already taken some impressive scalps since the start of the ladies’ competition, it will be interesting to see how match proceedings pan out for the leaders. The sheer exuberance of their batting order should be exhilarating if the recent past experience is anything to go by.

It’ll not be a smooth sailing though for the leaders as they are tied on 4 points with four other teams (Stray Impalas, Nairobi Warriors, Nairobi Titans and SCLPS) albeit a superior Run Rate of 3.894.

The Panthers beat South Zone Queens by 49 runs last weekend to assume the lead on the points table, thanks to the valuable continuations made by Charity Miller, who smacked 31 off 30 deliveries and Stella Afwandi who managed 26 off 20 balls. Lydia Kaparo racked up 17 off 18 balls.

Kaparo is one of the two NPCA women’s reps co-opted into the Association alongside Bhavisha Shah to facilitate the seamless running of the competition. Panthers also beat SCLPS by 8 wickets.

Second placed Impalas and Nairobi Warriors will be the first teams to take to the Sikh Union cricket pitch in Saturday’s program which has four matches.

Impala beat South Zone Babes by 3 wickets last weekend to stay on course for greater things. Impala are expected to play the likes of Lavendah Idambo and Selena McDonald.

NPCA Honorary Secretary Narendra Patel, affectionately known as ‘NK’, has expressed his enthusiasm for the introduction of the women’s competition, emphasizing its role in nurturing young talent and providing a pathway to higher levels of cricket for the ladies.

"The world's cricket landscape is evolving at a breakneck pace, and usually in such an ecosystem of immense resilience and gusto, it is about finding talented women players with a genuine passion,” he said.

 “The ladies are in high spirits and only the sky’s the limit, so Jamhuri is where it will happen this weekend; and we urge fans to come out in large numbers and cheer on the girls,” he added.