Opening game of Winter Trophy final

Alan Kyle shone for Krishna CC on the opening day of the HSBC Winter Trophy final. He made a patient 90 not out off 124 balls faced.

Boundaries were hard to come by. Kyle only managed three. The grass, being longer than usual, did not help the batsman at all.The only chance of getting Kyle came in a run out chance from a direct hit which was turned down by the umpire. Kyle had not reached his 50 when this happened.

Early in the Krishna innings, Alan Swift ran through the first three batsmen - Robert Krishna, Ronnie Sacco and Mark Sacco. This left the batting order struggling at three wickets down for 21 runs. The best partnership came from John Grima and Kyle which produced 63 runs. It ended when Grima was bowled by Hewitt for 26.

Angelo Spiteri was looking to destroy the bowling but he was caught by Caruana at deep mid-on, giving Hewitt his second over.

Sarfraz Ali was the only other batsman to make it over ten runs - 15 - before he, too, was caught by Caruana. The Marsa bowling was wayward and gave away 23 wides and one no-ball.

These aided the score to a formidable 198 for eight. Swift ended up with three wickets and Gordon Hewitt bowled remarkably well to take two.

For Marsa, Christine Muscat fielded for the full 50 overs, being the first woman to play competitive cricket in a long time in Malta.

On Saturday, Marsa will need to bat well if they are to match Krishna's tally. Last weekend, the Krishna batsmen showed it was no easy task to switch from the 25-over game to 50.

The match starts at noon.