Lesotho Beat Mozambique by 74 Runs — From 20 for 3, Patel and Maaz Khan Build 98 Together

Lesotho chose to bat and the morning turned on them almost at once. Chachole Tlali was caught off Joao Hou in the first over, and in the second Lourenço Simango had Lerotholi Gabriel and Lebona Leokaoke lbw with consecutive balls. Twenty for 3, ten balls gone. What followed was the innings of the match: Mohmed Duvesh Patel and Maaz Khan added 98 from 66 balls, Khan's 52 coming from 32 with three sixes, Patel's 63 from 45 with eight fours. Vieira Tembo's 3 for 21 pulled Lesotho back at the death, but Gladwin Thamae's unbeaten 20 with two sixes took them to 169 for 8.

Joao Hou made 49 from 45 for Mozambique with three sixes, and nobody else made more than nine. Two run outs involving the wicketkeeper Tlali, two wickets each for Malei Khauta, Thamae and Patel, and Mozambique were all out for 95 in 18.2 overs. Lesotho won by 74 runs.

At 20 for 3 a side can go one of two ways, and Patel and Khan chose the brave one. They did not merely survive; 98 in 66 balls is close to nine an over, and it turned a crisis into a platform. Khan fell in the 13th over for 52 and Patel in the 16th for 63, both with the job largely done. Tembo and the run out of Ts'episo Chaoana kept the finish below what it might have been, and Thamae's two sixes mattered.

Then Lesotho's bowlers did something worth noticing: none of the six went for more than 23, and none of the six bowled a full four overs. Chaoana bowled Lourenco Salomone in the fifth over, Tlali ran out Jose Bulele and Vieira Tembo, Khauta bowled Farruque Nhaduate and Agostinho Navicha, and Thamae took a return catch from Jose Joao and had Gomes Gomes caught by Gabriel. Patel, having made 63, came on and had Hou caught by Inshaf Farook and took a return catch from Camate Roposo. It was an afternoon on which he did most things.

Mozambique's bowling deserved better than the margin suggests. Simango's two in two, Hou's early strike and Tembo's 3 for 21 in four overs had them in the game at both ends of the Lesotho innings; it was the 98-run stand that got away. Jose Bulele also took Patel's wicket, and the substitute fielders held two catches.

The chase was Hou's. He opened, hit three fours and three sixes, and was the seventh man out, at 81 in the 14th over. Around him, the next-best score was Salomone's nine. Bulele was run out at 38, and later Khauta's bowling of Nhaduate, Tembo's run out and Navicha bowled by Khauta the very next ball took Mozambique from 58 for 2 to 62 for 5, and 17 extras were the second-biggest contributor on the card.

Every T20 match has an innings within it that the result leans on, and here it was the fourth-wicket stand. Mozambique had found their way into the match through Simango, and for a while it looked as if the second over might decide the day. Instead Patel and Khan answered a collapse with ambition, and by the time they were parted the match had a different owner. It was the first afternoon of the tournament, and Lesotho had shown that a team can lose three wickets for 20 and still win by 74.

This match didn't have a CricIntel preview — we'll have full analysis for the next encounter.

Lesotho lost to Uganda by five wickets on October 21, so after two days they have one win and one defeat. Mozambique beat Gambia by 28 runs the same day, Agostinho Navicha making 61 not out, and are also one and one. The round robin runs until October 25; Lesotho still play Nigeria, Zambia and Gambia, and Mozambique still play Uganda, Nigeria and Zambia.