Marsa go top after beating Krishna

Marsa moved top of the standings of the Winter League last weekend after beating Krishna in the last match from the second round of the competition at the oval.

Krishna won the toss and elected to field first.

Sarfraz Ali and Sam Aquilina opened the batting and were on a-run-a-ball rate when Ali was bowled for nine runs. Aquilina retired after facing 30 balls and ended on 22 runs.

The innings of the day came from Derek Ali. He scored a brilliant 55 from 30 balls, hitting two 6s and five 4s along the way. In fact, this was the innings that defined the game.

After that, Ronnie Sacco scored nine runs, Frank Spiteri eight, Jai Kumar five and four runs apiece for Hamza and Dameon Willis. Marsa totalled 122 runs, just missing out on a bonus batting point had they made 125.

For Krishna, Nowell Khosla and Justin Thorne were the main wicket-takers with two each.

A fraction just over a-run-a-ball ratio could have taken Krishna past Marsa’s tally.

Dave Borg and Tim Wheeler opened the batting. Both were doing well until a misunderstanding in calling between wickets, where a run was called. Borg had sprinted the first run hard and had overlapped the crease by a couple of metres but, unfortunately for him, he did not make it back to the other end.

Wheeler went on to make 21 runs before being caught. Ronnie Sacco claimed two wickets in an over and later he also took the wicket of Nowell Khosla which put the Krishna team under the hammer.

Mike Caruana was their last hope with Will Nicholls (three runs) and Robert Scerri (16 not out) doing very well. Caruana managed to score 33 runs from 27 balls but not enough as the 20 overs were up. Krishna had only managed 101 runs.

For Marsa, Derek Ali capped off his half-century with two wickets.

Marsa earned seven points from the win, taking them to 28 and top of the ladder. Krishna are second with 19 points and Melita Betfair third with 11.

The third round of the Winter League will commence on January 15. The third game in the series between Malta Select and Combined XI will be played on January 8. Academy activities are also scheduled to restart on January 8.