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UNDER NINETEENS ENJOY MIXED FORTUENS.

The Under Ninteen cricket squad which spent six days in London last week, playing four matches in as many days, enjoyed mixed fortunes, losing their first two matches and winning their last two.

Poor start at Ealing.

The tour opened on Monday 4^th. July with a match against Ealing Academy which resulted in a heavy defeat for the Gibraltar boys.    Ealing batted first and thanks to a ninety from one of their openers, Aamen Soni, and 46 wides bowled by the Gibraltar bowlers, who seemed unable to adjust to the grass wicket and unusual swing of the ball, managed to total 214 in 48 overs.   Karan Aswani took 3/40, Sebastian Suarez 2/47, and Mark Bacarese 2/30, but the best bowling figures went to Kabir Mirpuri who bowled his ten overs at a personal cost of only 19 runs and took two wickets in the bargain.   Wicket keeper Kieron Ferrary took five catches in this match.

The Gibraltar innings could not have got off to a worst start as Bacarese, Mirpuri and Chris Phillips were all back in the hatch with only eight runs on the board!   There was to be no recovery, despite a 28 from Aswani, and the whole side was dismissed for 86, thus giving Richmond victory by the substantial margin of 128 runs.

Close contest at Weybridge.

Tuesday 5^th. July saw the side travelling to the very picturesque ground at Weybridge where they faced the Weybridge under nineteens.   The local side batted first and were in all sorts of trouble on 49/6.   However their numbers seven, eight and nine batsmen came to their rescue with scores of 30, 76 not out, and 45 not out to enable their side to reach a total of 214/7.   Aswani took 4/50 and Ross Harkins 2/34.

Gibraltar lost both their openers with only 38 runs on the board before Phillips and Aswani put on 55 runs for the third wicket.   However, when Aswani was dismissed for 33 there was little resistance from the middle and lower order, and Phillips was left stranded on 68 not out in a final total of 173/8.

Better fortunes at Beckenham Hill.

And so to Wednesday, 6^th. July and a journey to Beckenham Hill, second home of Kent County Cricket Club, on a cloudy and windy day, to face Bexley’s Under sixteen Select, and this time the Gibraltar boys enjoyed better fortunes.    Batting first, an unbeaten 114 from Bacarese, a whirlwind innings of 75 off just 37 balls from Aswani and a timely 52 not out from Ferrary enabled them to amass a total of 330/7 in the allotted fifty overs and they then dismissed the opposition for 177 to gain victory by 153 runs.    Robbie Skinner excelled himself in this match with figures of 4/29 whilst Mirpuri was again his usual economical self taking 3/25 in his ten overs.

Tour ends in Richmond

The final day of the tour took the players to another beautiful ground, home of Richmond CC, the game being played on the same track as Hampshire CCC had defeated Middlesex CCC in a twenty-twenty match the previous day.    It was also the day when news began to filter through of the bombings in the capital.    Facing Richmond’s under nineteens, Bacarese and Aswani provided an excellent display of batting, both retiring on reaching three figures in a final total of 276/5.      Richmond were never really in the hunt, but it was disappointing to see the Gibraltar bowlers reverting to the waywardness which had characterised their opening match, this time bowling no less than forty wides.  Skinner was again the most successful bowler with figures of 4/29 whilst Bacarese rounded off a highly successful afternoon for himself, claiming three victims at a personal cost of 33 runs.

Final assessments.

This tour had been organised with a view to preparing the Gibraltar U19’s for their forthcoming European World Cup Qualifiers to be staged in Dundee, Scotland, from the 25^th. to the 31^st. July, and to get the boys used to playing on grass wickets.   In that respect the objectives were achieved as the standards improved match by match with the exception of the bowling performance on the last day.    There can be no doubt that the boys are now more ready to embark on their tour later this month.

                                                                                                                        -TJF