Krishna set up Marsa showdown

Krishna needed to win Saturday's match from the Winter Trophy against Melita to catch up with Marsa in the standings.

In the end, they achieved their goal with relative ease. Now, they have four wins to their credit, the same as Marsa.

The winner of the Winter Trophy will be decided over the next two Saturdays in a 50-over competition.

Krishna won the toss on Saturday. Young Sagar Krishna opened the batting and scored a patient 19. Mark Sacco (Gozo) played an entertaining innings, scoring 41 runs. He smashed five 4s before being run out.

Alan Kyle had a subdued innings. He was 34 not out. His innings began slowly and only scored eight runs off the first 15 balls he faced. Then, he opened up, playing cover drives and hook shots.

Ronnie Sacco scored ten runs while Sam Dhandapani made 17 as Krishna totalled 155. They were all out before they had faced the full 25 overs.

For Melita, Wally Glynn took three wickets and Sunny Krishna two.

It was only Rory O'Brian who produced some resistance against the bowling of Krishna. He managed 21 runs and a further three batsmen managed to make it to double figures. In all, Melita managed 82 runs.

Sacco bowled exceptionally well and took three wickets for three runs off seven balls which ended the Melita innings.

It seems that the 'bees' have lost their sting after winning the summer competition, only managing one win in the Winter Trophy.

This year, the Malta Cricket Association will be sending a Malta representative side to compete in the European Championship.

The tournament will be played in Antwerp, Belgium, in August.

In the last European Championship Malta finished joint second with Austria and Greece.