Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/658018
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 27 MARCH 2016 49 Sport CRICKET FORMULA 1 Bowler's day at Marsa Cricket Oval Chairman's XI 138 for 7 (25 overs) defeated Captain's XI 116 (22 overs) by 22 runs WITH the World Cup T20 in full swing in India, the Malta cricketers were also eager to play some cricket at the Marsa Sports Club oval last Saturday. A 25 over match was organised by the Club captain as a warm up for the busy touring teams scheduled for the months ahead. The Captain's XI won the toss and elected to field. It didn't seem like a bad choice with young opening bowler E Xuereb taking 2 early wickets with the batsmen on naught! Following the wickets of D Marks and S Anand the Chairman's XI in- nings started to wobble. N Khosla and N Khanna put on a worthy partnership till N Kho- sla finally retired having scored 50 runs. N Khanna was eventu- ally out bowled by B Arora for 31 runs. A late burst of good strokes saw S Lucas add 15 runs to his team's final tally of 138 for 7 wickets. The Captain's XI team was confident that the target of 139 would be achieved. The Chair- man's XI bowlers had other ide- as and took 3 wickets between them for 46 runs. An important partnership between B Arora (36) and G Tavilla (14) kept the scoreboard ticking over but both players were dismissed in con- secutive balls by S Lucas's im- pressive bowling. The hat trick eluded S Lucas for the second week running but he achieved a career best of taking 5 wickets for 19 runs! The tail didn't wag for the Captain's XI team and they were all out for 116. The Chairman's XI won by 22 runs. Stephen Lucas celebrates taking 5 wickets vs The Captain's XI Elimination qualifying to stay for Bahrain FORMULA 1 qualifying will re- main unaltered for the forthcoming Bahrain Grand Prix, with a further review of the elimination system to follow that race. The decision was taken follow- ing Thursday morning's meeting of the F1 Commission, a 26-member group comprising representatives from the teams, the FIA, Formula One Management, race promoters, sponsors and other technical part- ners. The belief is rather than taking a knee-jerk reaction, the elimination system that made its debut ahead during the Australian Grand Prix weekend should be given another chance, and then be thoroughly re- viewed ahead of making potential tweaks. "They're going to do what I pro- posed, which is leave things as they are for this race [in Bahrain]," F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone told Au- tosport. "After that we will then have a good look and decide whether what was done was the right thing to do, the wrong thing to do, does it need modifying, does it need scrapping? "This was an FIA idea in the first place, so I've said to them we'll sup- port whatever they think is the right thing to do. But as nobody knows what the right thing to do is, we've said we'll stay where we are and have a look after this race. "Then two races in we'll see, as it was a prototype, what was right or wrong. The teams didn't under- stand what they were doing either, which didn't help at all." A hybrid version of qualifying was on the table as an option for the Commission. That would have involved Q1 and Q2 continuing under the new for- mat but with minor tweaks, while Q3, deemed a disaster given the lack of action in Melbourne, reverted back to the old set-up in place from 2006. For the moment that option is on the backburner and could be revis- ited if the same level of inactivity takes place in Bahrain as occurred in Australia. The decision comes as a complete volte face to what occurred in Mel- bourne on Sunday when the team principals voted for an immediate change back to the former system after what had taken place the previ- ous day. They suggested it would come into immediate effect from Bahrain, but keeping the door ajar for changes to be introduced from 2017 follow- ing more in-depth analysis of how, and whether, another scheme would work. Even Ecclestone suggested the new system was "pretty crap" after watching it on television, while driv- ers and team bosses almost univer- sally condemned it. There were those, however, such as Force India deputy team princi- pal Bob Fernley, Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery and Wil- liams technical chief Pat Symonds who suggested the knockout format should not be so quickly abandoned. Monza reiterates confidence over new F1 deal OFFICIALS at Monza have re- iterated their confidence that the circuit can strike a new deal with Formula One Management as it bids to remain on the calen- dar beyond the end of 2016. Monza has been negotiating a new deal for several months, with reports in the Italian me- dia last week suggesting that they had failed, and that a move to Imola or Mugello was more likely for 2017. Monza has dismissed such suggestions and insists it is fo- cused on concluding a new con- tract which would secure it as the home of the Italian Grand Prix. "Autodromo Nazionale Mon- za has not received any official communication concerning the failure of negotiations to renew the agreement with FOM in or- der to keep at Monza the Italian Grand Prix even after 2016," a spokesperson told GPUpdate. net. "We cannot but reiterate our confidence in the President of Automobile Club Italia, Angelo Sticchi Damiani, who is fully committed to ensuring that Monza may continue to be the location of the Italian Grand Prix in our country. "SIAS Management [Monza's management group] will contin- ue to act responsibly by making available a part of the economic funds required to ensure the re- newal of the agreement and to carry on the economic recovery plan they have been assigned to." Bernie Ecclestone indicated earlier this week that he was "certain" a new deal with Monza will be concluded.