THE Channel Islands Over 50s cricket team kept alive hopes of qualifying for the knockout rounds of the ECB Over-50s County competition with an impressive victory on their UK tour yesterday.
An impressive total of 308 runs for an 60-run victory against Wiltshire in their final group match leaves them waiting on other results in other groups.
Dave Gorman was top-scorer for the CI by some way, hitting a magnificent 130 not out, with a host of tremendous boundaries among his total, which was the highest individual score in the competition.
But it was not all plain sailing, with Wiltshire ahead of the run chase after 30 overs.
Their victory bid fizzled out, however, with Steve Birkett grabbing three wickets and Barry Middleton, Gregg Sykes and the economical Ralph Anthony taking two each.
‘We were playing in 103 degrees centigrade, with not a breath of air,’ captain Paul Robson said, ’so it made the team’s performance all the more impressive.
It was one of those games when everyone came on and played well, and there was a very fast outfield, which helped us along.’ Although delighted with the victory, the CI can only hope to qualify for the knockout rounds if they’ve done well enough to finish as the best fourth-placed team of all the leagues in the competition, which still has two weeks to run.
Article posted on 20th July, 2006 - 12.00am
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