A few weeks after the success of our third annual T20 tournament Lanzarote once again entertained Sutton CC who returned to our island to play two 35 over games on the 17th and 19th of April.
A Lanzarote Casuals team took on the tourists on the Friday. Batting first Lanzarote started brightly but two poor run outs and a fine spell of bowling from Sam Schofield soon reduced the hosts to 67 for 7. A spirited lower order recovery saw Lanzarote eventually reach 135 all out in just 27 overs. David Leibrandt and Scott Brettell top scored with 35 and 23 respectively.
Chasing a modest total to win Sutton got off to a steady start keeping wickets in hand as they moved towards victory, at 98 for 1 things looked dire for Lanzarote before a flurry of wickets gave them a sniff. However a stubborn 33 not out from Paul Eldridge saw Sutton home in the 30th over for a comfortable 5 wicket win.
On Sunday the Lanzarote Select XI won the toss and elected to field first. This proved an excellent decision as some fine bowling from the whole team created pressure on the visitors who lost wickets at regular intervals. Neill French with 3 for 18, Monish Tahiliani with 2 for 14 and Matt Evans with 2 for 23 the main wicket takers as Sutton reached 127 for 9 in their 35 overs. Once again Paul Eldridge top scored with 32 and 19 not out from Sam Clarkson proved valuable in setting a defendable score.
Sutton were great in the field once again. The first over saw dangerman Monish Tahiliani out for a duck and despite a second wicket partnership of 43 once Dave Smith was out for 25 and Frankie Krishnani out brilliantly caught and bowled by Rob Griffin for 21 Lanzarote looked in trouble. Some fine bowling from Sam Schofield once again, ably assisted this time by Dave Lewis and Steve Hall, saw Sutton take wickets at the right time as Lanzarote were bowled out for 106 in just the 28th over. Congratulations to Sutton.
The interest in cricket is starting to grow once again, this month Jack Talbot and Dave Smith gave a coaching session to 60 young children in an Arrecife school and more and more teams from the UK are choosing to visit Lanzarote to play cricket here.
Our domestic 35 over season is now under way until the end of July. You can catch a game every Sunday from 10am at the sportsground in the Old Town Puerto Del Carmen. We hope to see you there.
Roberto Shard – Lnzarote CC