Youngsters bask in the heat

The Marsa ground hosted no fewer than five matches last week, involving the touring sides of Rendcomb College from Cheltenham and Stockport Grammar School.

On Tuesday, Rendcomb College played a friendly mixed match with the Marsa players that ended in a result for the chasing side on the final ball.

This enabled Rendcomb to acclimatise to the hot dry conditions as they beat Stockport the following day in their final match in Malta.

On Thursday, the first mixed Marsa/Melita match took place against Stockport GS. In a 40-over match, the locals posted a total of 202 for nine with keeper Grima getting 75 runs. However, the young visitors passed their target with nine overs to spare in a very enjoyable encounter.

Last Saturday, a full Marsa side batted first against Stockport. Marsa struggled to build any meaningful partnerships. Individual scores by Grima (21), Towers (19), Caruana (37) and Dhandapani (31) were interrupted prematurely by Jennings (4-37) and Davenport (3-25).

Marsa's total of 179 all out in 37 overs looked wafer-thin over lunch.

However, Stockport started very cautiously and were restricted to 68 for four by the 20th over, trailing Marsa's score at the same stage by some 30 runs.

Swift and Llewelyn shared the wickets with two apiece. With a stronger middle order, Stockport kept their nerve with Davenport (45), Jennings (13) and Purdon (37) pushing for runs off most balls.

They eked closer to the Marsa total despite Caruana's two wickets and eventually surpassed their target in the 38th over for the loss of eight wickets. Best bowler for Marsa was Swift (3-34).

On Sunday, Stockport ended their campaign with another victory, this time against Melita CC at the Marsa ground.

Both Rendcomb College and Stockport Grammar School thoroughly enjoyed their end-of-season tours to Malta and will be looking to renew their campaigns next year.

Today, starting at 1 p.m., sees the final match of the Summer League between the Marsa Falcons and the Marsa Eagles. The Falcons are undefeated so far on 26 points, whereas the Eagles have only one defeat - against the Falcons in the first round - with 18 points. A good win by the Eagles could find both teams sharing the top spot.