LEVANTE ENJOY A FRUITFUL VISIT TO BONALBA

Sunday June 2nd saw Levante Cricket Club record their first ever victory in the ECCL second division, while also securing a maximum 20 points from the win over the Intellectuals Cricket Club of Alicante.  Bowling first, Levante were driven by the stellar work of Dave Tivey (2-23) and Scott Burchell (5-25), reducing the hosts to 101 all-out.  With the bat, Tony Little led the way with an outstanding knock of 40 not out.
After winning the toss, captain Jason Noon asked the hosts to set a score on a perfect day for cricket.

Andy Pilkington and Rich Graham opened the attack for Levante and kept things generally tight before Graham took the wicket of Wasley in his third over with the score at 26. Coming on as first change, Dave Tivey quickly accounted for the dangerous opener Richards, LBW, and then in his second over did for the new man, Kaliq, clean bowled.  Matt Bellis gave a good account of himself in his first league performance with the ball, producing some great movement in the air. The biggest decision, however, proved to be the introduction of Scott Burchell who, after having a loose ball dispatched for 6, set about dismantling the Intellectuals line-up.  A key catch from Tivey in the covers off Burchell saw the end of Cormack who had shown confidence with the bat, bringing Samy to the crease.

 The Intellectuals number 6 went after the Levante attack with a flurry of boundaries (six 4s) before being trapped LBW.  This left the stage set for Burchell to work his magic as he delivered his final 4 wickets for the cost of just 3 runs – everything of his own doing, including a caught and bowled.  Stuart Ogilvie mopped up the tail with a wicket on his fifth ball, bringing an end to a solid fielding performance by Levante.  Credit must also be given to wicket-keeper Barry Eaton who, on a difficult wicket, kept extremely well and did not concede a single bye in the close to 32 overs of play.
With in the region of 4 hours to reach the hosts’ target, Levante’s batting focus was on the preservation of wickets while chasing with the aim to score maximum bonus points.  Openers Tony Little and Jason Noon, set about the task perfectly with watchful innings.

The pair would see off the opening bowling attack without allowing a sniff of a chance and saw the score to 42 for no loss after 19 overs at tea.  The first boundary hadn’t come until 16th over which demonstrated both the accuracy of the bowling and the focus and discipline of the Levante skipper and his Kiwi partner.  Two overs after tea Noon would go, clean bowled by Samy – but with the new division 2 rules, maximum points were still available to the guests.  Graham Hunt, making his first league appearance of the season, joined Little in the middle and quickly set about the bowling, lifting the run rate and the intensity as had been the goal. Little followed suit and in the space of 13 overs the pair built a stand of 60 and saw Levante over the finish line.  The partnership was punctuated by a beautifully pulled six by Little in the penultimate over, before Hunt clipped the ball for 4 and the win.  Little finished with an outstanding 40 not out, hardly putting a foot wrong, while Hunt had raced to a quick-fire 35. Levante won by 9 wickets and thus secured the maximum of 20 league points – moving them into second in the league behind La Manga. Man of the match went to Burchell for his second honours board performance in 2 league games, while special mention goes to Tivey for an important catch and a great spell of bowling, and to Little for a disciplined and pivotal performance with the bat.