On Saturday the fifth Chairman’s XI versus Captain’s XI was played. The Chairman’s team won the toss and elected to bowl first.

Chris Naudi and Mark G.Sacco opened the batting for the Captain’s team. They were going along steadily until a remarkable piece of fielding by Firoz had Sacco run out. Sacco had smashed the ball towards the fielder and thought that the ball was going to go past him and had taken off for a run.

Unfortunately for the batsmen the fielder was good enough to pick up the ball and threw it in quickly. Sacco had made five runs. Angelo Spiteri came to the crease and put on a 27 run partnership with Naudi. Naudi was next out being bowled - he had made 19 runs. John Callus last week’s hero managed to make nine runs before being bowled.

Mike Caruana managed a slow 12 runs before being caught. Spiteri went on to make 58 runs before being brilliantly caught by Firoz.

Spiteri hit a ball which seemed to be going for six but Firoz was running back and stopped it at the boundary - the fielder stuck out his hand and caught the ball: an absolutely fantastic effort. Spiteri hit four fours and two sixes in his innings.

Faraaz Bhatti batted well and made 18 runs. The Captain’s team were bowled out in the 42nd over and totalled a mere 172 runs.

For the Chairman’s team Joy Ghoseroy was the main wicket taker with three while Firoz and John Farrugia took two wickets each.

In an extraordinary effort from the Captain’s team, the Chairman’s team were bowled out in the 22nd over with Ronnie Sacco leading the attack taking five wickets for 16 runs from six overs.

Angelo Spiteri, Dave Newton and Mike Caruana all bowled well and took a wicket each,

The Chairman’s team were bowled out for 49 runs. Firoz was the main run maker with 12 runs, followed by Reagen Hobbs who made nine runs.

Next Saturday the Malta national team will be in Spain preparing for the ECC European Third Divison Championship.

One can follow all the trials and tribulations of the Malta cricket team on the following web-site

http://www.icc-europe.org/EURODIV3/index.shtml

Programme

31 August (Mon) v Spain

1 September (Tue) v Israel

2 September (Wed) v Portugal

4 September (Fri) v Isle of Man

5 September (Sat) v Belgium