Over the weekend, Marsa CC took on English side Steamboat Willies at the oval.

The visitors won the toss on Saturday and batted first in a 40-over encounter. They lost an early wicket, that of Jason Kleeman, but after that they started to add the runs – Mart Tannosa (nine), Tim Heath (35), Max Murray (38) and Dave McCairnay (34).

Once these batsmen were out, the Marsa bowlers were able to control the batting and eventually skittled the visitors for 163 runs.

For Marsa, Ronnie Sacco was the main wicket-taker with three.

In reply, the hosts thought they had the game all sewn up with Bikram Arora looking steady at the crease.

However, he was then judged lbw after hitting 37 runs and suddenly the home team were struggling at seven wickets down for 107 runs with 16 overs to go.

Luckily for Marsa, Derek Ali and Mike Caruana produced a partnership of 54 runs before Ali (48) was caught. Ronnie Sacco then came in and scored the runs required for Marsa’s win.

For the visitors, Kumaran Sivapathasuntharam was the main wicket-taker with three.

On Sunday, Marsa found themselves on the back foot in the very first over after having Nowell Khosla run out without scoring.

The hosts still managed 113 runs from their 20 overs with Dave Borg top-scoring with 34 , Frank Spiteri 27 and Robert Krishna 16.

Scott Rocket felled two wickets.

In reply, Steamboat Willies went full speed ahead and racked up the runs required in the 15th over, Tim Heath scoring 50 runs from 38 balls.

Next weekend, Marsa CC take on new touring team Ash Tree in another two-game series.