Marsa and Krishna set up final showdown

On Saturday Marsa played Overseas in the most exciting game of the Summer League so far.

Overseas batted first after winning the toss. Mike Smith and Jonathan Tully led the scoring before retiring on 33 and 54 respectively. Tully hit two 6s and seven 4s in his innings. Javed Iqbal scored 18, Steve Aspden 10 and Roy Newbould 12.

Overseas looked set to make a huge score until the bowling of Mike Caruana. He took five wickets and slowed down the scoring. Overseas had to settle for 166 runs.

The opening batsmen for Marsa both retired. Alan Kyle made 38 and Mark G. Sacco 28. They batted very slowly, putting pressure on the other batsmen. At the last over, Marsa required six runs to win.

Ronnie Sacco hit the first ball for four. The second ball Sacco called a wayward run and was rightfully run out for 34 from 20 balls. Marsa still needed two runs from four balls. The fielders were brought in.

Nowell Khosla kept his cool to smash the third ball for four. He ended with 31 runs not out and Marsa won the match and earned nine points.

Overseas only managed one point from the game. Marsa now head the standings, nine points clear of Krishna who they play next week in the final game.

Krishna have to win ten points from this clash to win the league. In Saturday's other game, they cruised to victory against Melita despite some very below par bowling from both sides.

Melita won the toss and elected to field. Krishna made the highest total in a game, 231 runs.

John Grima, pulling and sweeping shots, was 40 not out and Nadeem Ashraf hit 36 from 15 balls. For the second week running he was run out. Sagar Krishna made 21 and Sam Dhandapani 19.

Aided with 42 extras, Krishna looked home and dry.

Melita chased hard but could only manage 167 runs which in a normal game would have been a good score.

Sunny Krishna top scored with 41 runs not out. Melita were also aided with 43 extras.

Krishna will now focus their attention on their next crucial match. In Saturday's other fixture, Melita take on Overseas.