With the World Cup T20 in full swing in India, the Malta cricketers were also eager to play some cricket at the Marsa Sports Club oval last Saturday. A 25 over match was organised by the Club Captain as a warm up for the busy touring teams scheduled for the months ahead.

The Captain's XI won the toss and elected to field. It didn't seem like a bad choice with young opening bowler E Xuereb taking 2 early wickets with the batsmen on naught!

Following the wickets of D Marks and S Anand the Chairman's XI innings started to wobble. N Khosla and N Khanna put on a worthy partnership till N Khosla finally retired having scored 50 runs. N Khanna was eventually out bowled by B Arora for 31 runs. A late burst of good strokes saw S Lucas add 15 runs to his team's final tally of 138 for 7 wickets.

The Captain's XI team was confident that the target of 139 would be achieved. The Chairman's XI bowlers had other ideas and took 3 wickets between them for 46 runs. An important partnership between B Arora (36) and G Tavilla (14) kept the scoreboard ticking over but both players were dismissed in consecutive balls by S Lucas's impressive bowling.

The hat trick eluded S Lucas for the second week running but he achieved a career best of taking 5 wickets for 19 runs! The tail didn't wag for the Captain's XI team and they were all out for 116.

The Chairman's XI won by 22 runs.

Match Result: Sat. 19th March – Captain's XI vs. Chairman's XI

Chairman's XI 138 for 7 (25 overs) beat Captain's XI 116 (22 overs) by 22 runs

Permalink: Bowler’s day at Marsa Cricket Oval: Captain’s XI vs. Chairman’s XI