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Opening wins for Barbarians and Mediterranean
TJF
OPENING DAY VICTORIES FOR BARBARIANS AND MEDITERRANEAN CC.
The opening day of the season saw victories for Barbarians CC and Mediterranean CC in the Wiggins/Benrimoj Shield fixture. A total of 615 runs were scored in the two matches played with no less than five half centuries.
All too easy for Barbarians CC.
Newly formed Barbarians CC had a fairly comfortable passage against GCC in the morning match. GCC won the toss, opted to bat first and suffered an early blow as their captain, Kieron Ferrary, was dismissed with the first legitimate delivery of the day. This brought Kayron Stagno to the crease and, as is his want, he set about the bowling in no uncertain fashion, striking five boundaries before having his stumps shattered by Jawaad Bokhari. Opener Scott Chipolina and Rahul Daswani then featured in a third wicket partnership of 54 before the former was trapped leg before by Iain Latin for 23. That was to be Barbarians’ last success as the ever green Christian Rocca kept Daswani company in an unbroken fourth wicket stand of 78, GCC ending on 154/3 at the end of the allotted twenty overs; Rocca finished on 54 and Daswani on 39. Jawaad Bokari took 2/25.
Barbarians lost the early wicket of Andrew Reyes in the second over of the innings, after which Kabir Mirpuri and Iain Latin took command of proceedings with an unbroken stand of 154 to bring victory home with 2.5 overs to spare. Barbarians thus went home with 12 points to GCC’s solitary batting point.
Night Owls CC rue dropped catches.
Night Owls won the toss in the afternoon game and inserted their opponents, who made a shaky start, losing their first three wickets with only 28 runs on the board. Richard Buzaglo and Philip Dumas then steadied the ship with a fifty run partnership, though the former was helped by the Night Owls fielders who dropped him twice in quick succession when he was in his twenties. Dumas was eventually bowled by Dylan Casciaro, and he was replaced by skipper Ian Farrell. He and Buzaglo then added a further 58 runs before the latter finally went for 67, but Farrell remained undefeated on 57 in a final total of 171/6. Young Simon Dumas took 2/34.
Night Owls lost an early wicket after which Steven Gonzalez and Paul Buttigieg put on 39 runs for the second wicket. Disaster then struck as three wickets fell with the total on 49 and Night Owls never recovered from this, losing wickets at regular intervals and eventually being all out for 133, of which Mark Cruz was top scorer with 30. Saifedine Jalarby (3/27), Ross Harkins (2/8) and Chris Watkins (2/5) were Night Owls’ main destroyers. Mediterranean CC took 16 points from the game to Night Owls’ three.
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