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Grammarians-Calpe Murto Cup Final.

The 2005 Murto Cup Final will be contested by current holders Grammarians CC and Calpe CC who have yet to get their hands on that trophy.    Saturday’s matches were of contrasting styles as Calpe made short work of defeating UKCCC at the Stadium whilst GCC and Grammarians were locked in an exciting and tight contest at Europa which went right down to the wire.

Grammarians scrape through.

Grammarians won the toss and put GCC in to bat.   Christian Rocca and Ian Farrell opened at a frantic rate, hitting 43 runs in the opening six overs before the former tried to cut a straight ball from Kabir Mirpuri and was bowled for 22.    The run rate inevitably slowed down after his departure, but Farrell and Kieron Ferrary looked comfortable enough, adding 40 runs for the second wicket, before Farrell called his partner for a suicidal run which left Ferrary well short of his crease.   The entry of Dheeraj Punjabi into the Grammarians attack yielded instant benefits as he disposed of Adrian Hewitt and Andrew Chipolina, but Farrell’s vigil at the crease continued as he and Chris Allan took the total along to 146 with ten overs still remaining.   At that point, the game took a dramatic turn, four wickets falling for the addition of only three runs, including that of Farrell for 71.    Ryan Gonzalez and Punjabi with two wickets apiece were the architects of this GCC collapse.   An undefeated 15 from Ross Eatwell enabled the total to reach 180 before the whole side was dismissed in the 39^th. over.   Punjabi returned the excellent figures of 4/24, Gonzalez took 2/46, and Charlie Harrison chipped in at the end with 2/9.

Richard Buzaglo and Mirpuri put on 48 runs for the first wicket in the opening ten overs before the former mistimed a drive to give Rocca a simple catch at short cover off the bowling of Bob Brooks.   In the very next over Brooks was the catcher at gully off the bowling of Rudi Phillips to account for Mohammed Usman for a duck.  Mark Bacarese and Mirpuri held the fort for a while but when Chipolina took a fine catch at long on to dispose of the former and Mark Garratt disturbed the latter’s stumps, things were beginning to look black for the cup holders and at the twenty overs half way stage of the innings the total stood on 83/4.   After the drinks break George Shacaluga struck some fine blows but lost the wickets of Vikram Khatwani and Punjabi cheaply and at 104/6 a GCC victory seemed well on the cards.   However, Shacaluga was going well and in Charlie Harrison he found an able partner as a further 45 runs came in the next ten overs.    With 32 runs required for victory and seven overs remaining, Shacaluga, then on 39, struck the ball high towards long on where Chipolina covered a great deal of ground to take an excellent catch and with Nicky Gordon lasting just three balls and Neil Emerson four, the pendulum had once again swung GCC’s way.    Ryan Gonzalez then joined Harrison with 28 runs required for victory and six overs remaining, whilst all that GCC needed was to take one more wicket.   Midst mounting excitement Harrison saw his side home, undefeated on 27, as the winning run came in the final over of the game.    Mark Garratt returned figures of 3/29, but it has to be added that GCC contributed to their own downfall, bowling no less than thirty wides, extras totalling 40.

One-sided contest at the Stadium.

In sharp contrast, the game at the Victoria Stadium turned out to be no contest at all.   UKCCC batted first and after twelve overs half the side were back in the stands with only 45 runs on the board.   Roy Rodgers (30) and Steve Cary (26) provided some late order resistance, but the whole side was dismissed for a paltry 130 in 26.5 overs   Karan Aswani took 4/20 to bring his tally of wickets for the season to 38, thus finally breaking the record of 36 wickets in a season set be Steve Boylan way back in 1985, and Ross Harkins returned figures of 3/31.

Aswani and Harkins scored the required runs for victory in 19.3 overs.   Aswani’s 50 included four fours and a six and Harkins’ 64 nine fours and a six in a final Calpe total of 132/0.

The Murto Cup Final will now be played on Saturday 17^th. September at the Victoria Stadium.

Next Week.

Action reverts to the Caleta Hotel League next Saturday, as GCC take on Calpe CC at the Victoria Stadium and PGCC face Grammarians at Europa.    Both matches are first round ones so will be played on a fifty overs per side basis.