Eurowrap: Stokes stars in Guernsey and action from Spain

Spain

It has been a big week for cricket in Spain with tournaments and news rolling out from across the county.

Firstly, to the Balearic Islands where Mallorca won the Balearic cup. The annual tournament is contested by three Spanish islands, Mallorca, Menorca, and Ibiza. Each team plays two 40-over matches in a round-robin event. Mallorca hosted this year’s tournament, after sharing the 2019 title with Menorca.

Friday’s match saw the hosts take on Ibiza. Mallorca batted first and were dominant from the off. Mujahid Ali and Ben Vickers contributing 133 and 80, respectively, both with 150+ strike rates as the hosts racked up a mammoth 358/5 at the interval. Ibiza had no answer batting second and were bowled out for a mere 71 inside 20 overs. Mallorca took the opening game by a 287-run margin.

Ibiza returned on Saturday to take on Menorca but fared little better. Menorca batted first and made a steady start before a century from Marcus Dow set up a score of 286/6 in 40 overs. Ibiza’s batting couldn’t stand up to the Menorca bowling, sliding to 97/8. A 9^th wicket partnership of 64 improved the look of the scorecard, but Ibiza would eventually lose by 115 runs.

With Mallorca and Menorca on one win each, their match on Sunday would decide the fate of the trophy. An unseasonably bad weather forecast saw the game reduced to 20 overs-a-side, with Menorca batting first. Menorca got themselves into a good position, with the score 67/1 in the 11^th over. However, Mallorca swung things in their favour, inducing a collapse of four wickets for eight mid-innings. Menorca never recovered their momentum, stumbling to 94/6 at the interval.

Mallorca’s chase was never threatened, with Mujahid Ali finishing the game with a well stuck 6 in the 13^th over. Mallorca won by 8 wickets, taking the Balearic cup outright.

Elsewhere, Sporting Alfas have gone top of the East Coast and Central League after beating La Manga Torrevieja. Alfas made a chase of 202 look easy against the defending ECCL champions, to win inside 33 overs. Awais Ahmed was the star for the Alfas, thanks to his unbeaten 89 from 76-balls.

Finally, Barcelona look set for a brand-new cricket pitch. As reported by UK newspaper The Guardian, the Barcelona city council offered a public poll on a variety of new infrastructure projects, with a cricket field coming up trumps. The project, budgeted at €1.2m (~$1.5m USD), received the most votes, and is currently eyeing up a plot in the Montjuic region of the city. Currently, Barcelona’s cricketers share a baseball field between them, as well as local baseball teams.

Guernsey

The 2^nd round of the Odey Wealth Championship took place in Guernsey over the weekend. Canaccord Griffins met Cobo CC at the King George V field, whilst Old Elizabethans took on Wanderers Irregulars at College Field.

At KGV, the Griffins won the toss and batted. A steady start was converted into a solid score of 191, thanks to a 96-run partnership between Tom Kirk and Luke Bichard. Griffins were all out on the last ball of their 50 overs. Will Peatfield and Jami Nussbaumer took 3 wickets each for Cobo

Cobo were ahead of the rate for much of the chase, but fell away after reaching 121/4 in the 34^th over. Regular wickets from thereon saw Cobo all out for 182, Luke Bichard pick of the Griffins bowlers with 3-for 28 in 9 overs. With two wins from two, Griffins have gone top of the table.

Meanwhile at College Field, Matthew Stokes was star of the show. The opener smashed an unbeaten 213, from 168 balls as the Old Elizabethans racked up 348/3 in 50 overs. Stokes’ double-ton included 22 fours and 3 sixes.

The Irregulars kept themselves very much in the game, making it to 195/1 in their chase. But back came Matthew Stokes. Not content with his earlier efforts with the bat, Stokes took a key wicket, and then ran through the Irregulars’ tail to take 4/32. Irregulars were all out for 285, with Elizabethans winning by 63 runs.

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