Victory for the Intellectuals at La Manga
By ICC correspondent, 11 May 2012
The Intellectuals’ skip winning the toss opted to bat knowing that the (nine-man) Madrid team had had a tiring and close fought match the day before; his thinking being that although Madrid were no doubt lifted by their victory against new-comers Cazadores they may well not relish the thought of a possible 40 overs in the field after a night’s celebration. His tactic proved to work. The Intellectuals started slowly, openers McGarry and Wasley ‘turtling’ along at two an over for the first ten or so but things ended with a flurry, with the team batting out the 40 overs and reaching a respectable 168 for 6.
Wasley notching up a good 20, while Naveed swept his way to an impressive 64 before inexplicably retiring himself out with three balls to go. Krishna was the pick of the Madridbowlers with figures of 8-1-25-3.Madrid started their innings with intent and were keeping up a good run rate and well on target when on 43 for 1 Tanveer struck three times in close succession with a Waseem wicket inbetween, leaving the Madrid innings keeling on 56 for 6.
Madrid did manage a late rally but finally succumbed to the bowling of Cormack, who claimed the last two wickets (along with a couple of smart catches). Madrid ended on 84; notable batting performances came from Bancroft with a hard fought but intelligent 28 (he also deserves credit for walking without hesitation after an appeal for caught behind despite not being given out by the umpire) and young Lee Clark-Guiterrez deserves a mention for keeping the Intellectuals’ attack at bay, notching up a run and carrying his bat at the end.
Altogether, a good days cricket and a pleasing result for the Intellectuals after their narrow defeat in the opening match against Torrevija.
INTELLECTUALS 168 FOR 6 (18 POINTS) BEAT MADRID 84 ALL OUT (4 POINTS) BY 84 RUNS
Scorecard to follow