Melita begin title defence in style

Defending champions Melita Dubliners began their campaign in fine style. In last weekend's first game of the Summer League, they beat Marsa CC.

Marsa won the toss and fielded first in the 20-over game. Mike Micallef, opening the bowling, had instant success having Joy Ghoseroy caught behind by John Grima with the first ball of the game.

Sunny Krishna batted at no.3 and had one run to his name when he was dropped at mid-off. He went on to make 17 runs before being caught.

Rick Parker was also dropped when he had scored 15 runs. He went on to retire after facing 24 balls (local rule). He re-entered to end up being 49 not out at the end of the innings.

The two 'dropped catches' cost Marsa the game.

Frank Spiteri batted well and also retired with 42 runs, including a big six. Vanet Sharma added 12 before being run out by good fielding from Micallef. Roger Walker also contributed with ten runs.

The Melita Dubliners' total was 161 runs.

Chasing the score was never going to be easy especially with Melita defending their total by positioning their fielders in the deep from the beginning of the innings.

Ronnie Sacco was out in the first over. In the run chase, Mike Micallef made 31 runs, Mike Caruana 25, John Grima 24 and Sarfraz Ali 19.

These figures were not enough though and Marsa fell short by 16 runs. Sunny Krishna was the main wicket-taker for Melita. Marsa took home two points as Melita finished better with eight.

The second game between the Overseas and Krishna was a one-sided affair with Krishna running away with the game.

Overseas batted first and managed 132 runs with Paul Harris 22, Chris Rickards 25 and Grant Williams, 22, being the main contributors.

In reply Krishna knocked off the runs in the 13th over. Forty-four runs came off the flashing bat of Javed Shah. There were also 19 from Chris Naudi, 25 from Dhandapani and 12 by Mark Sacco.

Krishna earned nine points from the win while Overseas had to settle for one.