Brooklands 2-0 up in series

Over the Easter break Marsa hosted newcomers Brooklands CC and St George's School, both of England.

In a three-game series, starting on Thursday, Brooklands won the toss and elected to bat. They did so with patience as C. Hart (36), A. Platt (31), P. Vesey (31), P. Roberts (35) and A. Batty (22) all contributed for a 207 for the loss of nine wickets.

Marsa's reply was rather slow and unproductive with only three batsmen making double figures, finally being bowled out for 127 runs. For the visitors T. Holloway took four wickets for 24 runs of eight overs.

The locals strengthened their batting for the second game on Saturday.

Brooklands again won the toss and opted to bat. They amassed 264 runs from their allotted 40 overs. Halkon had a brilliant 97 runs, A. Hart made 55 and C. Hart and A. Bolton both made over 30 runs.

Marsa put in a reasonable effort with J. Callus (79), A. Spiteri (31) and M. Caruana (25) making the bulk of the runs, also aided with 41 extras. They ended short by 63 runs.

Brooklands won the second game. The remaining game in the series will be played today.

On Easter Sunday, St George's played their first game. Marsa won the toss but for the second consecutive Sunday F. Spiteri missed out on a century, this time by two runs.

He was well supported by C. Naudi (20) and D.D. Paul (30). The locals amassed 169 runs for the loss of seven wickets.

The Marsa bowlers, desperate for a win, defended the total with all their skills. F. Spiteri snared three wickets while S. Dhandapani and R. Sacco took two each. The visitors fell short of their target by a mere six runs. A. Willis (43) and T. Doran (34) were the main run makers for the visitors. The return will be on Thursday.

Over the weekend, Marsa will host new team Reigate Grammar School in a two-game series.