|
Tangier Tour
TJF
GCA XI in Tangier.
A GCA XI travelled to Tangier on Wednesday, 13th. April to take part in a triangular tournament with the Morocco National side and a UK team called Vines XI. Victory against the former was followed by defeat against the latter and the exercise in the excellent facilities in Tangier proved valuable, especially for the many young players making up the Gibraltar party.
Morocco surprise Vines XI.
The opening match was played on the Wednesday between Morocco and Vines XI. The latter, who at the time only had eight players available and had to borrow three Moroccans, batted first in a forty overs match and were dismissed for 124 in 33.4 overs, Mohammed Manzoor top scoring for them with 67 and Brahim Bekkouri taking 3 wickets for 12 runs for the locals. The Moroccan side also struggled for runs on what is a large, grassy pitch with boundaries in short supply, and with the last pair at the crease victory was achieved after 36.5 overs.
GCA open with a victory.
On the Thursday, the GCA XI batted first against Morocco in a 45 overs match and also found runs hard to get. They lost the wickets of David Young, Mark Bacarese, Steven Gonzalez and Chris Phillips with only 64 runs on the board. Christian Rocca held the fort for a while until he holed out for 21 and it was left to youngsters Karan Aswani (22) and Kabir Mirpuri (15) to bring some respectability to the total which closed on 137 after 44.2 overs. For Morocco Bennani took 3/14 and there were two wickets apiece for Wardi and Rachid Hermawi.
The Moroccans found the bowling of Gareth Balban and Karan Aswani too hot to handle and found themselves with seven wickets down with the total on 38. Azhar Hanchawi (20) and Mehdi Bentaib (21) put up some resistance but in the end the whole side was dismissed for 87 in 30 overs. Balban was outstanding with the ball, returning figures of 4/14, Steve Gonzalez ably supported him with 3/14 and Aswani took 2/21. The Man of the Match award went to Balban.
Disappointing end to the Tour.
On the Friday, the GCA XI faced Vines XI. Batting first they were given a solid start by David Young and Mark Bacarese who put on 51 for the first wicket. There followed a collapse as five wickets tumbled for the addition of 11 runs, and when a further wicket fell with the total on 94 things were looking grim. At this stage Richard Buzaglo (41 not out) and Chris Phillips (33 not out) came together and an unbroken partnership of 72 enabled the total to move on to 166/6 in the allotted forty overs. The Vines XI included former Sri Lankan international Ravindra Pushpackumara who bowled at a lively pace but ended up wicket less but the real star for the team from England was left arm spinner Mustapha Rajaba who returned figures of 2/8 off his eight overs.
The GCA XI got off to an excellent start and half the Vines team were back in the pavilion with just 61 runs on the board. Neil Sen and Si Sampat then changed the complexion of the game, adding 41 runs for the sixth wicket, but when the latter became Aswani’s third victim of the afternoon victory for the Gibraltar boys was still a very real possibility. However, Pushpackumara then joined Sen and these two were very severe on the Gibraltar bowlers with the result that victory was achieved in the 36th. over. Sen finished undefeated on 63 and was adjudged Man of the Match and Pushpackumara fell near the end for 37.
-TJF.
© Gibraltar Cricket Association
|
Email This Article To Someone!