Calpe CC get home with 3.2 overs to spare.
The contest at the Victoria Stadium turned out to be a much closer affair. Combined Colleges won the toss, opted to bat first, and were given a slow but steady start by Mark Ward and Kevin Nolan, who put on 72 runs before being parted. Calpe CC were partly to blame for this as Karan Sadhwani dropped Ward when the batsman was on nine and Nolan survived a sharp chance behind the stumps. Chris Phillips broke through in the 17th. over, Karan Sadhwani making amends for his earlier miss by holding on to a catch to account for Nolan [29], but at the twenty overs stage the batting side’s total stood at a healthy 108/1. The mid-innings drinks break brought instant success for Calpe as Iain Latin had the dangerous Cliff Knezovich caught at backward point by Karan Aswani and the same bowler accounted for Ward who had just passed his half century. When Vivek Sadhwani accounted for Jason Wild and Latin enjoyed a third success to dismiss Nushan Alwis, the Combined Colleges innings some in some disarray with the total on 153/5, but Chris Harris and Mick Berger came to their rescue with a sixth wicket partnership of 52 runs. Berger was then bowled by Aswani, and Karan Sadhwani took a brilliant catch to get rid of Ashan Alwis. At the end of the allotted forty overs, the total stood on 216/7 with Harris undefeated on 33. For Calpe, Latin took 3/49 and Phillips 2/39.
Facing a run rate of just below five and a half runs an over, Mark Bacarese and Scott Chipolina took up where they had left off last week, defying all efforts to dislodge them, and at the twenty overs stage they had put on 96 runs with both batsmen approaching their half centuries. Bacarese was the first to achieve this as the partnership blossomed. Chipolina had just reached his half century when Bacarese holed out to mid wicket with his personal score on 86, and there were some nervous moments in the Calpe camp as the asking rate rose above six an over and both Chipolina (62) and Aswani were run out in rapid succession. However, Kabir Mirpuri and Iain Latin duly saw them home with twenty balls to spare. Calpe took sixteen points from the game to Combined Colleges’ four.
P W T L BP Pts GCC 3 3 0 0 35 65 Calpe 3 2 0 1 29 49 Combined Colleges 3 1 0 2 20 30 Mediterranean 3 0 0 3 16 16