MCA Winter Wallop League holders Melita Bees finished the first round of the competition on a high last weekend after beating bottom-placed Marsa Magpies to go top of the standings.

On Saturday, the Magpies were strengthened with the inclusion of Sam Aquilina.

They batted first but only managed a modest score of 117 runs after the 20 overs were up.

Tony Azzopardi was a shining light for the Magpies, scoring 39 runs from the allotted 30 balls which included three boundaries and a six.

Aquilina left his mark with a valuable 24 runs from 22 balls as towards the end of the innings John Rusher added 18 runs which included three boundaries.

Andrew Naudi compiled 13 runs and four other batsmen made four runs between them. There were 19 extras otherwise the scorecard would have been a sorry state for the Magpies.

However, one has to mention that the bowling of the Bees was pretty efficient to keep their opponents at bay.

Paul Bradley was the main wicket-taker with two.

As expected, the Bees made the required runs off the first ball of the 16th over.

Ewan Prezens, the former Sweden national team member who was playing his last game at the Marsa oval, faced that one ball and had it sailing over the boundary for six.

There was no better way for him to win the game for his team and a memorable shot to leave with.

Earlier, Frank Spiteri put the Bees in a winning position with 53 runs from 25 balls which included nine boundaries and a six.

The bowlers were under siege and had no reply as the opening tandem of Tim Wheeler (16) and Matt McKeogh (17) produced a fine start for Melita.

For the Magpies, Azzopardi, Ali Hamza, Malik and Will Nicholls all took a wicket each.