Marsa too strong for NSW CC

On Saturday the NSW team won the toss and elected to bat. R.Berlaqua (twenty nine runs) andd S.Kish (twelve runs) put on a fifty four run partnership before both were out in a Bikram Arora over. Berlaqua scored five fours during his innings. K.Yardy was next to go after making eight runs. D.Burns (twenty three runs) and G.Brooks (thirty two runs, three sixes one four.) put the tourists back on track. Then a collapse of wicket saw four batsmen making fourteen runs between them. Thirteen of those were made by A .Brooks. S.McCullum (forty three runs not out, one six and three fours ) was well supported by D.Chin (five runs not out) made sure they batted the full forty overs and made sure a decent score of 194 (including extras) was reached. For the home team Andy Naudi, Gordon Hewitt and Raja Zubair also took two wickets each while Sarfraz Ali took one.

In Reply the Marsa batsmen made the runs with eleven balls to spare. A fantastic opening blast from Haroon Majeed scoring twenty two runs from eleven balls had the home team off to a blinder. Bikram Arora a more relaxed batsmen made his way to forty six runs before being caught. He hit two sixes and four fours along the way. Rangit Gokarn made a patient eleven runs while Joyy GHoseroy made eight runs. A great partnership of ninety two runs from John Grima (thirty runs) and Nowell Khosla (fifty six runs) made it a great victory.

For the tourists, S.McCullum, D.Chin, G.Brooks and B.Pendelbury all took a wicket.
On Sunday in a thirty over encounter the NSW team batted first again. The team posted a moderate score of 124 runs. A,Brooks top scoring with twenty five runs. T.Worlard scored twenty runs and S.McCullum fifteen. The wickets for the Marsa team were spread between Frank Spiteri, Chris Riordan,Joe Gartner and Puneet.

The Marsa team reached their target in the twenty second over, but not before losing seven wickets. Chris Riordan top scored with thirty two runs and Joe Gartner thirty runs. S.McCullum took three wickets for the visitors, T.Worlard took two and C.Palmer took one. The Marsa team have an unassailable lead of two nil in the series with one more game this coming Wednesday were they will be looking for a whitewash.

Next Saturday the MCA Cricket Summer league continues with Marsa C.C taking on Melita C.C