League newcomers Levante enjoyed a fruitful first ever trip to Bonalba, coming away from their match with maximum points and renewed confidence after a convincing nine wicket victory over the Intellectuals Cricket Club of Alicante.
Winning the toss the visitors decided to field. They were soon among the wickets as the fraility of the home sides batting was brutally exposed by the strong Levante bowling attack. All but one of the bowlers picked up wickets but the star of the show was the evergreen Scott Burchill who bagged five wickets for just 25 runs. He was ably upported by Dave Tivey (2-23) and Anthony Pilkington, Richard Graham and Stuart Ogilvie who all took a wicket a piece.
In reply the visitors batting was strong and decisive. Openers Tony Little and Jason Noon weathered the early storm from the home side and the only blot of the batting was team skipper Jason Noon beng clean bowled by Sami for 19. Graham Hunt with 35 not out ensured there were no more hiccoups, and along with Tony Little (38 not out) steered his side to a nine wicket victory and a strong position in the league table.
The two teams meet again next weekend in the return fixture in Valencia
REPORT ON THE GAME FROM LEVANTE CC
IntellectualsvLevanteCricketClubLevanteCConSun02Jun2013at11amLevanteCricketClubWonby9wickets
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.
Intellectuals Batting
Richards
lbw Tivey
26
Wasley
b Graham
4
Cormack
ct Tivey b. Burchell
23
Kaliq
b Tivey
0
Faisel
b Burchell
2
Samy
lbw Pilkington
26
Naveed
ct & b. Burchell
2
Hashim
ct Noon b. Burchell
0
Clark
b Burchell
2
O´Reilly
b Ogilvie
0
Martin
Not Out
0
LevanteCricketClubLevanteCCBowling
Andrew Pilkington
7.0
1
13
1
13.00
1.86
Rich Graham
4.0
0
20
1
20.00
5.00
Dave Tivey
9.0
3
23
2
11.50
2.56
Matt Bellis
3.0
0
20
0
0.00
6.67
Scott Burchell
7.0
1
25
5
5.00
3.57
Stuart Ogilvie
0.5
0
0
1
0.00
0.00
Levante Cricket Club Levante CC Batting
IntellectualsBowling
Alex
6.0
1
9
0
0.00
1.50
Samy
9.0
2
25
1
25.00
2.78
Faisal
1.0
1
0
0
0.00
0.00
N. Richards
8.0
1
33
0
0.00
4.13
Hashim
3.1
0
19
0
0.00
6.00
Kaliq
3.0
0
8
0
0.00
2.67
Naveed
3.0
0
8
0
0.00
2.67
Liga de Cricket del Este y del Centro, Segunda Division (ECCL 2)
P
W
D
NR
L
BP
Pts
LA MANGA II
2
2
0
0
0
18
38
LEVANTE
2
1
1
0
0
17
32
SPORTING ALFAS II
3
0
2
0
1
21
31
MADRID II
2
1
1
0
0
13
28
INTELLECTUALS
2
0
0
0
2
2
7
TORREVIEJA
1
0
0
0
1
5
5
Sat 27th April Sporting Alfas (13 points) drew with Levante CC (12 points)
SACC 214 for 9 (B Fletcher 65, K Laundon 34, J Braithwaite 32, Hussain 2-33, D Tivey 2-55) Levante 166 for 8 (S Burchill 67)
Sun 5th May La Manga (18 points) beat Sporting Alfas (7 points) by 50 runs
La Manga 183 all out (K Buckley 32) Sporting Alfas 133 all out (J Amir 35, H Phull 4-35)
Sat 11th May Madrid (18 points) beat Torrevieja (5 points) by 3 wickets
Torrevieja 100 all out (M Talbot 36, L Blann 33, M Fernandez 4-7) Madrid 102 for 7 (K Shezut 39, K Wood 3-26)
Sun 12th May Madrid (10 points) drew with Sporting Alfas (11 points)
Madrid 244 for 9 (M Fernandez 108, W Ashraf 4-76) Sporting Alfas 103 for 2 (G Evans 39 not out)
Sun 19th May La Manga (20 points) beat Intellectuals (5 points) by 184 runs
La Manga 286 for 6 (G Singh 128, V Singh 57, P Davis 41 not out) Intellectuals 102 all out (Matt Copperwheat 5-8)
June 3rd Levante (20 points) beat Intellectuals (2 points) by 9 wickets
Intellectuals 101 all out (A Faulkner 26, Samy 26, S Burchill 5-25) Levante 104 for 1 (T Little 40 not out, G Hunt 35 not out)