PG TIPS JUNIOR LEAGUE IN MALAGA
The “P.G Tips” Malaga Under-14 Junior Cricket League 2nd Round matches took place on Sunday 17th October with two fantastic games. Backed by the UNI LEVER Group, The P.G Tips Tea Brand has added its support to the Junior League as well as sponsoring all the Trophies and Medals at stake. The day saw good hard contested cricket with the standard and sportsmanship by the young cricketers was brilliant to say the least and was again well supported by a lively happy crowd.
The first match of the day was between Benalmadena International College and Sotogrande International School Team 2. Good tight bowling contained S.I.S to a reasonable 79 for 6 at the end of the 15 over innings. B.I.C saw some good performances to overhaul the S.I.S score and win the match with 5 overs to spare and go top of the league. Man of the Match: Callum Murphy. In the second match of the day, Aloha College batted with Captain Ricardo Engleman and Elizabeth Raneses impressive with an opening partnership of 45 runs and gaining a final score of 65. Sotogrande International School team 1 saw splendid bowling by Jack Milton to get rid of Engleman bowled for 32 (the highest individual score so far in the league). S.I.S Team 1´s turn at the crease saw a minor collapse on 47 for 5. This brought Captain Simon Kidd to the wicket and well supported by Alex Dunning they looked set to take the match away from Aloha. But Aloha clinched victory by 21 runs with 5 over to spare. Man of the Match: Ricardo Engleman
The “P.G Tips” Junior Cricket League 3rd Round matches on Sunday 31st October saw great fluctuations in the team standings with two more brilliant matches.
In the first match, League leaders, Benalmadena International College won the toss and asked Combined Colleges CC Colts to take first strike. A win for Benalmadena would have placed them in a commanding position to win the league but this was not to be as Jivan Khopkar of Combined Colleges dominated the game with a brilliant hard hitting 31 runs and finished with a team total score of 94. Benalmadena´s turn at the crease looked to put them back into the game but alas they ran out of overs leaving Combined Colleges winners and new league leaders. A gripping game from start to finish. Man of the Match: Jivan Khopkar. The second match of the day was a thriller. Aloha College won the toss and elected to bat against Sotogrande International Team 2 (the ‘tinymites’). Aloha were soon in trouble in the second over but it took solid batting from James Swan scoring 27 runs, to steady the ship with a final total team score of 87. Sotogrande also started badly when Ricardo Engleman removed Captain Jim Cobb in the first over but they battened down the hatches and played solid cricket finally overhauling the score just in the nick of overs to win this very tense match. A terrific match win for the “Tinymites” whose average age was 11. Man of the Match: Daniel Fowler.
On 14th November, “Remembrance Sunday”, before the start of play of each of the two matches in the “P.G Tips” Malaga Under 14 Junior Cricket League, 4th Round, the Players and Spectators observed One Minute in silence to pay respect and remember all those fallen in all the world’s conflicts. At the end of the day’s matches, the Junior League was thrown wide open and will now go down to the wire on the 5th Round and Final day after fantastic wins for Sotgrande International College and Benalmadena International. College.
For the first game, Sotogrande Team 1 won the toss and asked Combined Colleges to take first strike. Sotogrande bowled well and a determined team effort by the Colleges Colts batsmen Jivan Khopkar and Sam Eadington kept the score rate at 6 runs an over, taking the team score to 88 runs. Chasing 89 runs, Sotogrande started badly but determined batting by Jack Milton with Simon Kidd assisting took the score to 45 for 4. Larkins and Kidd closed out the match for the win. Man of the Match: Jack Milton. In the second game, Aloha College won the toss and elected to bat against Benalmedena International College . Their innings closed on 83 runs when Swan playing a leading role was bowled by Callum Murphy for 19. Benalmadena International College won the match with great batting from Adam Johnston 20 not out and Ben Girling 19 not out finishing the match in 11 overs. Good tight bowling by James Swan (3 overs 1 maiden for 6 runs) could not change the out come. Man of the Match: James Swan
This win places Benalmadena at the top of the league and now they must wait the outcome of the 5th Round matches on Sunday 28th November to see who will be crowned Champions.