The Cataluyna Boys Under 17 Cricket Team finished a creditable fifth in a recent International event held in Corfu, Greece.
In the Group stages they came up against a strong Indian team Bal Bawan in their first game. The youngsters from India posted a score of 160 for 7 in their twenty over allocation. The Spanish team tried hard to make inroads into the required total but were finally all out for 101 in the 17th over.
In the second game they faired much better beating a team from Johannesburg in South Africa, who would go on to win the competition. The South Africans scored 157 for 4 to set a competitive target of 158, but the young Catalans got off to a great start by posting 63 for two off the first six overs. The imputus remained with the Europeans and they timed the run chase to perfection to gain victory in the 18th over.
Next was a match with the hosts Corfu, of Greece. The match was streamed live to the watching world but unfortunately it coincided with the teams worst performance in the whole competition. The Greek side won the toss and elected to field, a decision that was totally justified as they bowled out the Catalan boys for just 49 in twelve overs.
A plucky performance with the ball had the hosts at two for two and just 10 for 2 off 7 overs. The team tried hard to restrict the runs but it was the team from Corfu that went on to claim victory in this particular game.
With two loses in the group stage the Under 17 team had to settle for a 5th-6th place play off against a team from Bulgaria. Cataluyna won the toss and batted, posted a total that the Bulgarians youngsters were unable to overtake, and as a consequence the boys from the Barcelona region ended the event in a very creditable fifth place.
