With table-toppers Kings Kerala CC having their bye over the weekend, Marsa CC took full advantage with a crushing win over Mater Dei CC on Saturday.
Batting first, Marsa raced to a score of 61 runs for the loss of no wickets before Julian Makalanda removed both Navdeep Singh Gill and Glenn Tavilla.
The onslaught continued from Zeeshan Khan and Malta’s Bikram Arora. A stunning innings from Haroon Mughal of 77 runs off of 37 balls, the highest individual score of the season so far, and a late blast from Zubair Mohammed helped Marsa to 208/4, the highest team score of the season.
Mater Dei’s innings never really got going as Marsa took wickets consistently throughout their overs.
Mater Dei CC finished on 85 all out. Singh Gill was the pick of the bowlers for Marsa with 3/15 while David Athwal and Jaswinder Singh picked up two wickets each. Tavilla took three catches in the field.
The result leaves Marsa top of the table on 52 points, 15 points ahead of Kings Kerala.
St John CC picked up their first win of the season on Sunday morning with a resounding victory over Punjab XI CC.
Losing the toss and resigned to bowl first, St John’s captain Jurg Hirschi continued his fine form with three wickets, making it ten wickets for the season.
The star player, though, was Junaid Bakhtyar with figures of 4/18 as Punjab XI were bowled out for 72 runs.
St John made short work of their run chase, winning within 10.2 overs. Jaz Cable finished on 46 runs not out as St John became the first team to chase down a target score for a victory this season.
Kerala Tuskers CC also managed to chase down a target score for a victory after their effort against HSBC Malta CC on Sunday afternoon.
Batting first, HSBC Malta got of to a flyer, reaching a score of 76 within nine overs. However, Angelo Delardon and Ryan Bastiansz were dismissed in back-to-back overs.
HSBC Malta’s innings never really recovered after captain Michael Goonetilleke was dismissed for the third wicket, with his side finishing on 131/7.
Kerala Tuskers made no fuss of their run chase with Samuel George Boby scoring a half-century.
Contributions from Manu Devassy (20) and Jibin Sebastian (36) helped Tuskers to the win inside 15 overs for the loss of two wickets.
Super Kings CC returned from their one-week bye with a win in an entertaining game against Paddy Power.Betfair CC on Saturday morning.
Wicket-keeper Aaftab Khan top scored for Super Kings with 61 as his side posted a score of 187/7 in their 20 overs.
Moon Malik was PPB’s pick of the bowlers with figures of 2/15.
PPB got off to a good start with their run chase before Ashok Bishnoi removed Moon Malik with the score on 38.
Suhrid Roy then dismissed PPB’s Ryan Parry, the first of his four wickets that day.
The tide really turned after Roy bowled PPB’s captain Niraj Khanna while the skipper was on 49. The capitulation then unfolded with PPB only mustering 23 more runs before being bowled out for 145.
Next weekend, the League season will be taking a break with the teams returning to action the following weekend. St John CC will have their bye next gameweek.
Standings: Marsa CC 52; Kerala CC 37; St John 32; Kerala Tuskers 30; HSBC Malta 25; Paddy Power.Betfair 16; Super Kings 23; Punjab XI 1.