National Day Tournament


	Cricket Gibraltar Official site of the Gibraltar Cricket Association

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TJF

BWIN NATIONAL DAY TOURNAMENT.

The Gibraltar Cricket Association staged its annual National Day tournament on Saturday at the Europa Oval. The event was sponsored this year by Bwin and the format reverted from the traditional six-a-side competition to a ten-over per side with bowlers restricted to one over each and batsmen having to retire on reaching 20 runs. Five teams competed in two groups of three and two respectively and proceedings lasted from 10.20am. until 7.45pm.

The morning contests.

The tournament opened with a match between the Legends and Night Owls, the former including Christian Rocca who has made this competition his own, having won it every year since 1995 with the exception of last year when it was not staged. Batting first Night Owls amassed a total of 98/3 in their allotted ten overs, with Steven Gonzalez retiring on 21, Mark Bacarese on 20, and Gareth Balban and Paul Buttigieg chipping in with scores of 18 and 16 respectively. The Legends made a slow start to their reply, only seventeen runs coming in the opening three overs and when Rocca holed out first ball the writing was on the wall for his side. Legends ended on 74/4, only Ian Farrell with 21 making a worthwhile contribution.

Hercules, composed exclusively of under nineteen players, then took on Sloggers, the latter batting first and totalling 78/4 in their innings, with Albert Perez retiring on 20, Iain Latin hitting a typical quick-fire 15 and Charlie Harrison an undefeated 18. Hercules lost two early cheap wickets and after five overs had only put 31 runs on the board, but an innings of 21 off just ten balls from Kieron Ferrary turned the game his side’s way, Hercules getting home with nine balls to spare.

And so to the afternoon!

Legends and Night Owls then faced each other again at 1.30pm.with the former needing to win to stay in the contest. This time Legends sent in their big guns first and got off to a flying start, 34 runs coming in the first two overs as Christian Rocca and Adrian McCoubrey both smashed their way to the twenties, and, after two relatively quiet overs, Steve McEwan and Ian Farrell also reached the twenties to take the total to the highest of the day – 116/0. This meant that Night Owls needed either to win or lose without losing a wicket to progress to the final stages, but this was not to be as wickets tumbled regularly with no batsman reaching double figures in a final total of 54/8.

Sloggers then returned to the fray to face Formby, a team of fifty year-olds, led by Frank Mahon, Bwin Managing Director. Batting first Sloggers amassed a total of 92/5, thanks to an innings of 22 off just six balls from Iain Latin, and good supporting work from Christian Barbara (18) and Charlie Harrison (13). This proved to be not enough as Formby overtook the total to end on 97/4 with one over to spare; Robinson and Aindow both reached 20.

Formby then had to take the field again to take on the youngsters of Hercules. Batting first they could only reach a total of 70/8, Aindow scoring 19 and Vishal Kainth and Joss Hatcher taking two wickets each. Scores of 19 from Karan Sadhwani and undefeated 17’s from Kieron Ferrary and Scott Chipolina saw Hercules home with seven balls to spare.

The final.

The final between Legends and Hercules got under way at just after 6.00pm. with the latter occupying the crease first and getting off to a terrible start, losing the wickets of Shaun Ainsworth and Scott Chipolina with only nine runs on the board. Kieron Ferrary and Joss Hatcher then staged a recovery, both reaching 20 before retiring, but the rest of the batting line-up then failed to reach double figures in a final total of 84/6. Keith Campbell took 2/4 in his over.

Legends appeared to be cruising in their reply, Rocca, McEwan and Farrell all reaching 20 as the total moved to 74 with three overs to go. The eighth and ninth overs then yielded only three runs each and there were some anxious moments in the Legends camp as the final over of the day began. With one ball to go, scores were level and Gary De’Ath hit the final delivery to the boundary to give Legends (and Rocca!) yet another National Day title.

Murto Cup Draw.

The Murto Cup Draw was made yesterday at the ground and resulted in the following:

GCCbwin v Combined Colleges at the Victoria Stadium.
Calpe CC v Mediterranean CC at Europa.

The matches are scheduled to take place on Saturday 22nd. September, with the final to be played a week later, on the 29th.

Next Week.

The Senior League comes to a close next week-end with Calpe CC involved both on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday they take on GCCbwin at the Victoria Stadium and on Sunday they will face Combined Colleges at Europa.

-TJF