THINGS HOTTING UP IN THE SOUTHERN LEAGUE

Southern Spanish Cricket League 

Malaga CC v Combined CCC  16 May 2010.                              Won by Malaga CC by 3 Wickets.

Combined CCC won the toss and elected to Bat.

Malaga CC 111 for 7, 17 points.                        Combined CCC 108 all out , 4 points. 

For the first time in weeks the sun was climbing through a cloudless blue sky and as it ascended the cooling sea breeze rose with it.  Was this to be a perfect cricket day?  Combined Colleges skipper Nushan Alwis might have thought so when he won the toss and decided to bat.  Opener Previn Menon probably thought not as the second ball of the day leapt off a length in unplayable fashion.  Next ball he played a good looking forward defensive stroke straight down the wicket to a ball coming in from off and the clatter of his stumps told him his day was not to be perfect.  

The second over saw a ball straighten and keep low to send the other opener back to the hutch.  Variable bounce was the order of the day and the Combined Colleges batsmen could find no confidence to play their shots.  Further wickets in the 3^rd, 6^th and 8^th overs saw them in desperate trouble at 39 for 5.  

By this time left hander Mark Ward was at the wicket with a brief to become the sheet anchor of the innings, a role he performed with some aplomb, departing 9^th wicket down for 26 hard earned runs.  Azard Thajudeen (12), Ashan Alwis (11) and Irfan (13) helped him drag the score along to 108 all out. 

Brian Barrett bowled the first over of Malaga’s innings tidily enough, with just three runs scored off it, and the third with five scored for the loss of the first Malaga wicket at 16 for 1.  This brought in Asif Tarrer to partner Waqas Ali – two big hitters at the crease and a time of great danger for Combined Colleges.  

You could feel, almost touch, their disappointment when Waqas was dropped in the deep off Ashan Alwis’s third over although no one could know then just how costly it would turn out to be.  Malaga then moved on steadily to 54 for 1 off eight overs.  Half way there and their best pair still at the wicket.  The next over saw Asif Tarrer depart first ball and Rizwan fourth ball to give Brian Barrett a double wicket maiden and Malaga a bit of a fright.  A fright yes but a wobble, no.  

When Waqas Ali was caught off Previn Menon’s bowling for 66 in the 17^th over Malaga were 102 for 6 and Combined Colleges could only hope for a miracle, which failed to materialise and Malaga gained their second successive victory to move to the top of the league.  Combined Colleges might reflect on three dropped catches and Malaga’s second highest scorer.  Mr Extras on 31 was the second highest scorer and one of only two in double figures. 

Man of the Match award goes to Waqas Ali, not for his smart run out but for his 66 runs on a day when nobody else really looked like being able to build a big innings.