Strong batting sees Marsa through

On Saturday, Sliema Krishna took on Marsa in the second game of the inter-club competition.

Marsa batted efficiently and had the Sliema side running all over the oval despite G. Tavilla's good show. J. Ghoseroy retired at 28 from the 30 balls he faced. Later in the innings he returned to be caught for Tavilla's third wicket after making a fine 45.

M. Caruana was Ghoseroy's partner earlier on. He smashed 50 runs and returned to bat to finish with a score of 72 not out. To cause further trouble to the Sliema bowlers S. Ali made 40 runs, being run out on the last ball of the innings, and A. Swift chalked up 30 before retiring.

The bowling extras were of great help to Marsa... they accounted for 40 runs. The batting side amassed a total of 244. C. Naudi was the only bowler, apart from Tavilla, who took a wicket.

Sliema had S. Dhandapani missing and were facing a mountain to climb. Their opening batsmen both retired after 30 balls as C. Willis only managed nine runs and returned to be the only one not out on 18.

Naudi made 31 runs. He was then bowled out by Ghoseroy for 40 runs. Tavilla was in no mood to block and was trying to hit everything for four to pick up the run rate but was caught for 29 runs.

R. Sacco was the other batsman who wanted to pick up the run rate. He smashed his way to 40 before he was bowled for Ghoseroy's second wicket. Sliema had to settle for 167.

Marsa won the game by 77 runs which put them equal on points with HSBC Cavaliers. The two will be battling it out next Saturday to see who will top the competition at the end of the first round.