Brooke leads The Rest to victory

The second game between the Malta combined team and The Rest was played last weekend at the Marsa oval.

The national selection won the toss and elected to bat with Sarfraz Ali and Ronnie Sacco being the openers. Going along steadily, they were averaging three runs an over before a mix-up and Ali was run out for 17.

Dave Newton was next man in and also the next one out. He was caught and bowled for eight runs and the combined team were now in trouble with only 54 runs from 19 overs.

Mike Caruana was next in and with Sacco, put on a partnership that was worth 120 runs. Caruana finished 53 not out, including four 4s. Sacco played a great innings and finished with 79 runs not out, including nine 4s as the national team hopefuls totalled 174 from their allotted 40 overs.

In reply, Justin Brooke opened with an impressive 58 runs. He was involved in two match-winning partnerships, one with Wheeler (58) and the other with Kyle (51).

His opening partner, Faraaz Bhatti, had only managed four runs. Tim Wheeler scored 27, Alan Kyle played well to add 43, Andy Lenard was 19 not out and Dax Fernandez made sure The Rest won the game by acquiring the needed points.

The series is now tied with one win apiece. The third game is scheduled for Saturday morning. Next weekend, the nursery activites will be held on Saturday, between 9.30 and 11.30 a.m. and on Sunday, from 10 till noon.