Day 3 Review – The CUB Bethesda Golden Eagles bounced back with a domineering 8 wicket defeat over the New Winthorpes Lions. The match went pretty much as expected. Dean Benta led the batting with 51/36 with 9 fours and Devon ‘Booby’ Thomas a plundering 31 from 14 balls as the Eagles chased down 122 set by the Lion. Bethesda’s Kelvin Pitman and Anthony Martin had 2 wickets each from their 4 overs, giving up 18 and 16 runs respectively.
In the second match of the evening the PIC Liberta Blackhawks dominated with bat, ball and in the outfield. Several light showers interruption only delayed the inevitable. Chasing 200 to win, Pigotts Crushers crashed to 71 for 5 in the 15th over when the match was finally called due to weather interruptions. Kofi James led the Blackhawks batting with 69 (2 sixes and 9 fours) for 42 balls. The youthful opening pair of Kofi James and Uri Smith enjoyed a second opening partnership in excess of 100 runs. Man of the Match Karima Gore batted not out 58 off 29 balls (3 sixes and 8 fours) and 2 wickets for 10 runs from his 3 overs. For Crushers, Stephan Matthews was the most economical bowler: 4 overs, 22 runs, 1 wicket.
Today, Rising Sun Spartans clash with All Saints Pythons in the first encounter at 4pm. Rising Sun goes into this match full of confidence after their surprising 45 runs defeat of Empire Nation. Considered the underdogs of this year’s tournament, the Spartans had a decent performance successfully defending their 159. Dean Williams was the pick of the Spartans bowlers taking 3 wickets for 16 runs from his allocated 4 overs, ably supported by an exciting 1 over from Dario Hodge where he took 2 wickets for 2 runs. The Rising Sun Spartans batting line up will need a more consistent performance at the crease AND to hold the catches when the opportunities arise.
All Saints Pythons will need to reset to join the winning circle. All aspects of their game must witness significant improvement. It is expected that they would not repeat the mistake of taking Rising Sun Spartans for granted as they did, with Jennings Tigers.
For Match 2 Empire Nation is rumored to have sent for reinforcement after their lackluster performance in their 1st match. An average outfield performance did not support the bowlers’ efforts and poor shot decisions by many of the batsmen led to an eventual crash to 114.
Empire Nation face off against the Jennings Tigers, the team with the most exciting start to this year’s tournament. Jennings Tigers has the largest age disparity among its team members which lends to a most interesting development experience. Considered least likely to win in their first encounter (against All Saints Pythons) the Tigers batting line-up put up 167/6 led by George Munsey’s 47 runs (1 six, 8 fours) from 35 balls. The Tigers followed their batting with a quality display of bowling and fielding. Captain Orlando ‘Baby’ Peters led with 3 wickets for 24 runs from his 4 overs. 13-year-old Matthew Miler brought another level of excitement to the match with a 2-wicket haul for 9 runs from his 2 overs. He was also quite militant in the outfield and was eventually declared the man of the mach.
