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maltatoday WEDNESDAY 28 MARCH 2018 Sport 22 CRICKET Malta Seniors Cricket Festival Sunday 25 March Match 1: Warwickshire Bears maul Kent & Surrey in Festival opener. Warwickshire 77 for 1 off 15.3 overs (R.Cooper 33*; D.Gardner 1-3, R.Wickson 1-15) defeated Kent & Sur- rey 76 for 5 off 25 overs (P.Meyers 34*). In a match reduced to 25 overs due to early morning rain, Warwickshire opened the Festival in style with a comprehensive win against Kent & Surrey by 9 wickets. They lost wick- ets at regular intervals and never re- covered after being 8 for 2 from their first five overs. Peter Meyers held the innings together with a brave 34 not out as Kent & Surrey reached the below average score of 76 for 5. For Warwickshire, Duncan Gardner, Howard Clay and Roger Wickson all captured a wicket apiece. In reply, Warwickshire made easy work of their target, reaching 77 for 1 with nearly 10 overs to spare. Opener Richard Cooper batted through with 33 not out, while he was well sup- ported by Neil Spragg (20) and Dun- can Gardner (19 not out). Player of the Match: Duncan Gard- ner. Umpires: Stuart Chilmaid and Keith Boyall Scorer: Eric Balakrishnan Match 2: Yorkshire Ridings win a match dominated by batting. Yorkshire Ridings 165 for 2 off 27.3 overs (G.Orrell 54*, N.Allen 51, D.Fairbank 44*; M.W heeler 1-22, N.Green 1-31) defeated Essex 164 for 0 off 30 overs (P.Wakefield 87*, S.Sood 71*). A brilliant unbeaten 164 run part- nership between Essex openers Paul Wakefield (87*) and Sanjeev Sood (71*) proved to be in vain as York- shire Ridings coasted to victory with 15 balls to spare. The Essex pair in- creased the run rate throughout the innings and withstood some very tight bowling early on by Ridings' Tony Evans, Andy Mackie and Derek Chapman. In reply, Riding's recov- ered from the early loss of Alan Lees with Neville Alan and Dave Fair- bank contributing 58 for the second wicket. Gary Orrell joined Alan and together they put on an unbeaten 88 runs to seal the win for the York- shiremen. Player of the Match: Paul Wakefield Umpires: Joy Ghoseroy and Barry Toombs Scorer: Eric Balakrishnan Monday 26 March Match 3: Berkshire beat Kent & Surrey in a canter. Berkshire 61 for 0 (D.Tooze 21*; D.Townsin 18*) defeated Kent & Sur- rey 57 for 6 (G.Moir 20). After an early downpour reduced the first match to 28 overs, Kent & Surrey captain Neil Richards won the toss and elected to bat first. Unfor- tunately, they continued where they left off a day before as they stumbled through their allotted overs to reach the dismal total of 57 for 6. For Berk- shire, Andy Brown and Aston Kinsey were the major destroyers with 2-8 and 2-14 respectively. Berkshire were never stretched in reply and afforded the retirement of their captain David Tooze (21*) and fellow opener Don Townsin (18*) as they reached their target with nearly 17 overs to spare. Player of the Match: David Tooze Umpires: Gordon Whickman and Stuart Chilmaid Scorer: Ethan Xuereb and Claire Whickman Match 4: Warwickshire remain unbeaten as they cruise past Essex Warwickshire 235 for 5 (D.Gardner 54, R.Cooper 45*; S.Healey 44*, C.Harborne 3-32) defeated Essex 105 for 7 off 30 overs (I.Selby 49*; D.Gardner 2-10). An impressive batting display by Warwickshire's top order saw them defeat Essex by 130 runs. Duncan Gardner (54), Kevin Bissett (33) Richard Cooper (45*) and Steven Healey (44*) pummelled the Essex bowling to all parts of the Marsa oval as they reached the imposing total of 235 for 5 from their allotted 30 overs. For Essex, Carey Harbone was the major wicket-taker with 3 for 32. Essex lost their captain Paul Wakefield early and never recovered to make any sort of challenge to the Warwickshire score. Ian Selby (49*) and Sanjeev Sood (22) were the main contributors as they ended their in- nings on 105 for 7. For Warks, Dun- can Gardner rounded off a fine all- round display capturing 2 for 10 from 6 fine overs. Player of the Match: Duncan Gard- ner Umpires: Keith Boyall and Barry Toombs Scorers: Ethan Xuereb and David Murphy Standings after Day 2 of the Malta Seniors Cricket Festival: 1) Warwickshire - Played 2 - Won 2 2) Berkshire - Played 1 - Won 1 3) Yorkshire Ridings - Played 1 - Won 1 4) Essex - Played 2 - Lost 2 5) Kent & Surrey - Played 2 - Lost 2