INTELLECTUALS TAME TORREVIEJA
On Sunday 28 Feb at the athletics stadium, Palacio deportes, Torrevieja,on a damp and dismal day, newly-formed Torrevieja cricket club took on the might of Alicante cricket, in the form of Intellectuals Cricket Club.
Intellectuals won the toss and elected to bat, coasting along at 3 runs per over until Captain Ben Essuah called for a change in bowling, a decision which immediately brought the desired result.
Peter Westlake, in his very first over, roused the opening batsmen by trapping Rahul Lbw for the first of 7 LBWs in what was only a friendly match, all for a total of only 13 runs.Opening bowler Amal then woke up to the task in hand, removing Shan with a tempting lifter just outside off stump, cleanly caught by Aussie wicket-keeper Mike Gay for 14.
Not to be outdone, Westlake took 2 wickets in his second over,r emoving opener McGarry LBW for 6 and clean bowling Lincoln for a duck.
In amongst all the mayhem Torry CC were wreaking, as Tim Standford was quietly but assuredly building what was to prove to be the winning innings.
Medium pacer Michael Wilson-Pastel (aged 15) came on and the batsmen took 10 runs off his first over, before he asserted his superiority by trapping Dawes Lbw for 6.
Not satisfied with that, Michael went on to have Keeling caught at deep mid-wicket by Guppy for 0, then floated one up to Prior, tempting him out of his ground and leaving keeper Gay the opportunity to whip the bails off.86 for 7 and looking like game over for Intellectuals, except for their Weapon of Mass Destruction in the form of Stanford, who hit 6 fours and 2 sixes in amassing 51 before being clean bowled by Guppy.
The last 3 wickets amassed 47 vital runs, leaving Torry CC chasing a modest 133 off 35 overs.
With a batting line-up of only 10 due to unannounced absentees,Torry set off in pursuit with a quiet confident.
Disaster struck in the 6th over with the score on 36, with the departure of Hayes,caughtt by Dawes off the bowling of Bashir for 13. Two overs later another 2 wickets fell with the score unmoved on 40, with Alam caught by Prior off Bashir 4 and Guppy Lbw to the same bowler.
Over 9 saw Shan come to the party,dismissing Gay ct Keeling for 1 and having Essuah trapped lbw for 4.Over 10 saw Bashir claim his 4th wicket with the dismissal of J.Wilson-Pastel(aged 9) for 0.
Westlake and Hapi took the score to 74 before Hapi fell to Standford ct Lincoln for 16.
M.Wilson-Pastel came and went quickly lbw to Standford 0.
Westlake and last man Furness then put on a defiant 17 runs before Furness was clean bowled by Standford for 7 runs, leaving Westlake not out 16, including 3 boundaries.
The game was played in good spirit, but the high number of Lbws in what was, after all ,a friendly match between cricket lovers,s lightly marred the day and tempo of the match.
Man of the Match has to go to T.Standford of Intellectuals for his hard-hitting 51 runs and 3 for 15 off 3.1 overs.After all is said and done, CRICKET was the real winner on the day,with players from various countries including Australia,Bangladesh,Pakistan,India,Ghana and Spain.
Ben Essuah, Torrevieja CC
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All new members will be made most welcome at our cricket club
Phone .677335707.