Twenty-over win sways series in Leyland's favour

Over the weekend, Marsa took on Leyland who were on their fourth tour in five years.

On Saturday, Leyland batted first and Chris Parkinson made an impressive 83 runs, including 13 fours and two sixes before being caught. At that stage, the visitors looked like totalling over 300 runs.

The Marsa bowlers fought right back and looked like bowling Leyland out for under 200. An effective partnership from Andrew Makinson (56 not out) and Dave Makinson (22 runs) saw their team to 246 runs from the 45 overs allotted. For Marsa three bowlers, Andy Naudi, Kevin Krishna and Ronnie Sacco were the main wicket takers with three each.

In reply the home team were looking good with Nowell Khosla (20 runs), Chris Naudi (17 runs), Andrew Naudi (26 runs), Firoz (48 runs) and Tousif (29 runs). Dave Makinson had other ideas and put a stop to the runs with his bowling ending up the main wicket taker with three. Ronnie Sacco and Mark G. Sacco both made 16 not out and the home side were short by three runs.

On Sunday, the Marsa team batted first and put on a modest 224 runs from their 45 overs. Khosla top scored with 44 runs, Dereck Ali 41, Naudi 38, Javed Shah 25 and Tousif 24.

For Leyland, S. Cartwright and D. Makinson were the main wicket takers with three each. In reply, I. Farington and D. Vardy put on an opening partnership of 148 runs which had the Marsa players in a spin.

Farington scored a 100 runs before being stumped by Tousif. This was the first of four stumpings for Tousif who also took two catches behind the stumps. Vardy made 54 runs and the rest of the team crumbled and were bowled out for 210 runs. In the 45-over games, the series was a tie. Thursday's twenty-over game was the deciding factor in this series.

In the twenty-over format, Leyland batted first and amassed 166 runs. The Marsa team tried hard to keep up with the run rate but fell short by 27 runs. With that win Leyland clinched the series 2-1.

On Saturday, the MCA summer league continues with Melita playing Krishna in the first game and Marsa taking on Overseas in the second.