MAHE KINGS chalked up a 27-run win over USAIM on Sunday March 28 to square the points at the top of the table and leave the finalists, with only two matches to play, still unknown.

Winning the toss, Kings' skipper Craig Hall chose to bat first, avoiding the full heat of a clear skied Sunday afternoon at Freedom Square.

The captain opened alongside Hari, but the pair was unable to weather the early morning bowling attack of Siddesh and Girish, both clean bowled on 3.

Replaced by Jimmy and Vijay, the Kings' innings quickly picked up as the two new men found the measure of the bowlers and powered their way to a combined 60.

When Natwar and Akshay claimed their wickets, Shiva took up the challenge and, after losing two partners cheaply, he was joined by Santosh. Shiva made his way to a solid 15, while Santosh battled on to the day's top score of 29.

The lower order contributed with single figure scores and the USAIM bowlers also chipped in, adding a useful 30 extras.

Last man standing was Murali, undefeated on 0, when the final wicket fell, Mahe Kings closing on 139.

The USAIM bowlers had worked hard for their wickets, notably Siddesh who picked up 3 for 34 and Girish who claimed 2 for 17. The wickets may have fallen a little faster if USAIM hadn't been without Mukesh, sitting out a one-match Seychelles Cricket Association-imposed ban, following a brief contre-temps in the previous match against Luckstars.

Chasing a target of roughly 4.5 runs an over, the students must have felt that the game was far from finished and their reply started brightly with Akshay cruising to 23 and Sahil knocking up a quick 16.

Abishek came in at number 4 and picked up the innings' high 28, but the free flowing start faltered as USAIM mimicked their last match with a lower order collapse.

After Abishek was caught by Craig off a John delivery, only 18 more runs came off the bat.

Despite conceding 25 extras, the Kings' bowlers had enjoyed a productive day and dismissed the last USAIM batsman with the students still 27 runs short. They had also managed to keep the run rate down, leaving USAIM struggling for the remaining runs off only one and a half overs.

John and Craig had kept up the bowling pressure, but most wickets fell to Hari, 2 for 28, and Santosh, whose 3 for 19 and 29 runs earned him the man-of-the-match award.

But despite the satisfying victory, which kept the Kings, USAIM, Vijay and Supercats level on points, the Kings are unlikely to make the final, as the two remaining round-robin matches will see Vijay in action on both occasions, against Supercats and Luckstars.

The Cats' net run difference means that, barring a 100-run defeat, they look guaranteed to claim one finals spot, and most pundits will have Vijay as odds on favourites to claim at least four points from their remaining matches to secure the second finals berth.

As the Mike Holmes Memorial Tournament reaches its conclusion, members of the national squad have begun preparations for the annual tri-nations tournament. Thirty players have been called to selections, to be whittled down to 15 over the coming weeks, ahead of the competition against Mauritian and Kenyan teams.