SPORTING ALFAS I BEAT VALENCIA GREEN BY 8 WICKETS
Valencia Green found the going tough in their first league game of the season when they were easily beaten by a well disciplined Alfas side. The visitors won the toss and elected to bat on a glorious day at the Woodbridge Oval.
Alfas opened the bowling with Lupson and Laundon and they continued were they left off against La Manga last week by bagging the first three wickets for only 27 runs.Things got even worse for Green when Mudassar and Azhar both went cheaply and the reigning league champions were tottering at 65 for 5.
A sixth wicket partnership of 78 between Gulzar and Yaser brought some creditability to the visitors score but when both players fell in consecutive overs with the score on 143 it looked unlikely that Green would bat out their allocated 45 overs.
So it proved, as the last few wicket fell quickly, despite a quickfire 27 off 25 balls by Hamid. When Abbas took the final wicket of Mahmood the visitors had amassed 185 runs off 33.1 overs.
Alfas responded strongly and scored quickly with Ali playing in his usual aggressive style. With Spencer looking in god nick at the other end it looked ominous for Green. With the score on 33 Ali tried one hook shot too many and gloved a simple catch to wicket keeper Nasar off the bowling of Mahmood.
Pennick arrived at the crease, and along with Spencer they began to make strong inroads into the Valencia total. Spencer was playing particularly well and he reached his 50 in 70 minutes off 69 balls. Pennick continued to keep the scoreboard ticking with regular singles and the pair put on 140 for the second wicket before Pennick was adjudged lbw off the bowling of Mahamad for 47 with the score on 173.
It was left to Crompton and Spencer to get the other 13 runs required for victory, which they did easily, and Spencer ended the day not out on 94, just six short of a well deserved century.
For the second week running Alfas took maximum points, which now sees them well established at the top of the Costa League One table.
P W T L BP Pts Sporting Alfas 1 2 2 0 0 20 40 Valencia Green 1 0 0 1 4 4 La Manga 1 0 0 1 1 1 Madrid 0 0 0 0 0 0
Costa League 1 2009
Valencia Green v Sporting Alfas 1
16 May 2009
Woodbridge Oval
Costa League 1
Result: SACC I won by 8 wickets
Points: SACC I 20 points Valencia Green 4 points
Toss: Valencia Green
Umpires: R Graham, A Bacon
VALENCIA GREEN
Atiq Ul Rehman Bowled Laundon 2 S Lupson 5 0 27 2
Imran Fazal Bowled Lupson 8 K Laundon 9 1 38 2
Sajid Manzoor Ct Crompton B Laundon 29 C Muñoz 4 0 41 1
Mudassar Ct Taylor B Lupson 4 S Abbas 8 1 35 3
Azhar Abbas Ct Ali B Muñoz 4 P Taylor 7 2 35 2
Gulzar Ahmed Ct Laundon B Taylor 29
Yaser Alfaz Ct Crompton B Abbas 51
M Akmal Stumped Ali B Taylor 8
Hamid Nasar Ct Pennick B Abbas 27
F Mahmood Ct Muñoz B Abbas 4
F Mahamad Not Out 0
Extras (b 4, lb 5, nb 1, w 9, p ) 19
Total (all out, 33.0 overs) 185
FOW: 1-15 (Atiq Ul Rehman) 2-23 (Imran Fazal) 3-27 (Mudassar) 4-49 (Azhar Abbas) 5-65 (Sajid Manzoor)
6-143 (Gulzar Ahmed) 7-143 (Yaser Alfaz) 8-162 (M Akmal) 9-184 (Hamid Nasar) 10-185 (F Mahmood)
SACC I
M Spencer Not Out 94 A Ul Rehman 7 1 38 0
S Ali Ct Nasar B Mahmood 16 F Mahmood 6 0 30 1
P Pennick Lbw Mahamad 47 Mudassar 1 0 8 0
G Crompton Not Out 4 M Akmal 5 0 22 0
G Howe Dnb Gulzar 8 0 52 0
C Muñoz Dnb Yaser 3 0 18 0
K Laundon Dnb F Mahamad 2 0 5 1
S Abbas Dnb I Fazal 0.2 0 1 0
S Lupson Dnb
P Taylor Dnb
B Marriner Dnb
Extras (b 4, lb 8, nb 3, w 10, p ) 25
Total (2 wkts, 32.2 overs) 186