Marsa have final say in Ampthill series

Last weekend, Marsa CC took on returning team Ampthill Town from the UK.

On Saturday, a 40-over game was played and Ampthill, after winning the toss, decided to bat first. Paul Warwick and Dan Nichols were the openers.

They were cruising along with 44 runs on the board when Nowell Khosla bowled Nicholls who was on 32. Warwick was next to go, being run out for 26 runs.

Matt Wilkinson added 24, Nigel Lewin and Chris Key both had 12 and after such a promising start, Ampthill were bowled out for 154 runs with Chris Degnan adding 16 towards the end of the innings.

Credit must also go to the Marsa bowlers who persevered while the going was tough. Andy Lenard, Nowel Khosla and Justin Brooke were the main wicket-takers with two each.

In reply, the Marsa batsmen succeeded in making the runs by the 38th over. Khosla opened the batting and made 22, Andy Naudi hit his first half-century against touring sides, his 54 runs including five 4s. Javed Shah scored 22 runs and C. Ruddick was 17 not out.

On Sunday, two 20-over games were played. In the first game, the local side batted first and only managed 98 runs from their allotted overs. Ronnie Sacco top scored with 36 runs, Andy Lenard made 20, Andy Naudi 13 and Joy Ghoseroy 10.

Ed Sharpe was the main wicket taker for Ampthill with two.

In an exciting finish, the visitors needed six runs to win from the last over. Dan Nicholls stood tall for his team and hit the target with the opening two balls, first ball went for two runs and the second went to the boundary for four runs.

Nicholls scored 14 runs not out. Richard Haxle hit 26 runs and South 17. For Marsa, the main wicket taker was Gordon Hewitt who took three wickets and Martin Llewlyn took two. Ampthill squared the series.

In the second game, Ampthill batted first and totalled 104 runs from their allotted overs. Degnan scored 12 runs, Andy Passman 13, Nicholls 27 and Wilkinson 32 not out.

For Marsa, Ronnie Sacco was the main wicket taker with three while Tony Azzopardi took two. Another exciting finale was in the offing with the Marsa team needing two runs to win from the last over.

First ball was blocked with Ronnie Sacco taking a single in the second.

In the third ball, Andy Naudi (top scorer with 40 runs) was run out. Sacco managed a single in the fourth to secure victory for Marsa who claimed the series 2-1.