Sunday saw just the single Elite Division match between Skanderborg and Soraner, with both teams are fighting for a place in the championship match. In order for Skanderborg to have any hope, they required a victory over Soraner.
Skanderborg has already lost two matches played on Zealand and with a No Result they are lagging behind and after today's match they only have 2 matches left. The weather forecast was not exactly positive with a risk of cloudbursts and the umpires ended up reducing the match to 40 overs per side. With a short rain break of 10 minutes, the match was able to be played and they got to experience the thunderstorm that hit the area.
Soraner won the toss and chose to bat. They were kept in check at the start especially when Nicolaj Damgaarden opened with 2 maidens with Surya Anand and Anders Bülow having only 18 on the board after 8 overs.
Then the first wicket fell and with the introduction of the spinners the scoring rate increased. Yoganandan Pandiyan (24) was caught though and new man Yashavant Patil (31) wasted no time in hitting two sixes. He really only had one shot but it was effective and cost two more sixes. He did cut to the keeper though so it was Chakradhar Gopalam (28) and captain Ravikiran Shetty (28) who carried the team on.
Nikolaj Damgaard returned and immediately sliced through Soraner with 4 wickets. What looked like a total of 160 was transformed by Sibin Blessen (32*), who with three sixes and a final wicket stand of 41 ensured a final total of 197.
Nicolaj Damgaard bowling during his four wicket spell (Peter Power)
Nicolaj Damgaard opened the batting for Skanderborg together with Omar Hayat (23), but today Nicolaj had no luck. Shangeev T (34) came in and together with Omar raised the total to 61 when Shangeev was caught in the deep. Surya Anand (55*) came in to play anchorman as Skanderborg quickly lost two more wickets.
Surya and captain Rizwan Mahmood (55) were now together and needed 124 runs to win. They knew the tail was long and therefore they played with safety at the start, meaning only singles unless a really bad ball came along. With a six and a subsequent four, Rizwan ensured that the team was ahead of the par score, if the rain were to return. With 180 on the board, Rizwan was dismissed, but Chris Rasmussen took over his role and Skanderborg took the victory with four wickets standing.