Cricket finals continue this week-end

The semi-finals of the BDO Club Championships were played last Saturday. The Paama Sharks batted first and put up the mammoth total of 4 for 284 off 34 overs. Paul Farrely was on 87 runs at the start of the final over. Little did the crowd know that Paama would score a Vanuatu Record (maybe a World Record) of 38 runs off the Jon Laws' bowled final over. Paul finished the day on 123 not out. Earlier he had combined with Hendry Joewangeh (77 runs) to set the foundation for the big Sharks innings. When it came for Beroccas to bat Mark Dunn and Jacko Laycock got them off to a fine start with an opening partnership of 95 runs. They ticked over the score at a good rate and a delightful cameo from skipper Dave Adams (45) almost saw Beroccas pull off an improbable victory. Beroccas ended with a very creditable 240 runs. Pity about that world record in the first innings, the result may well have turned on that over!

The second semi-final was played between the Mele Bulls, who were undefeated throughout the season and eTech Tafea, who presented an undermanned team for this match. Tafea batted first and were dismissed for 108 runs, with Vanuatu's rising young start, Andrew Mansale bagging 4 wickets. Andrew is a product of the VCA's Westpac Kanga Cricket and UNELCO U-15 programs. This was to prove to be a match dominated by the bowlers just as much as the morning match was dominated by the batters. The Mele team went into bat confident of victory but some loose stroke play from some of their experienced players led to early wickets falling at a too frequent rate. It was up to Raka and Mait Chilia to hold the team, together at the tail of the line-up and enable the Mele boys to scrape through with a 2 wicket victory.

All in all there were over 700 runs scored at Independence Park last Saturday and we saw some very entertaining cricket.

The Preliminary Final will be played on Saturday at Independence Park between eTech Tafea and the Paama Sharks. The match will be a 40-over per innings affair commencing at 12noon. The umpires this week will be Geoff Clelland and Greg Walton and the match referee will be Derek Fountaine. The winner of this match will play the Mele Bulls in the Grand Final the following week. The loser will dash down to Chinatown to buy some mothballs. The stakes are getting higher be there to watch the drama unfold.

UNELCO U-15 Finals

The Unelco U-15 Championships have also come to the Finals stage. The final ladder saw Malapoa College finish on top after an undefeated season. They are followed by Central Junior Secondary School; Mele Weaners; and PVIS. The other two teams were Ifira and Erakor who did very well for their first year in the competition. The VCA is very pleased with the way the Pierre Chilia. Patrick Haines and the many other volunteers have assisted to make the Unelco U-15 cricket championships very effective in promoting the development of cricket in Vanuatu.

We are certain that all of the kids who have had the opportunity to take part have enjoyed the season immensely. They have played always to the best of their abilities and have had a lot of fun in the process. Those kids are the seeds on which cricket in Vanuatu will continue to grow. Some of them will be members of the Vanuatu Cricket team in the next South Pacific Games in Samoa and will represent Vanuatu in cricket throughout the region and throughout the world as their overall levels of experience and skill grow.

The semi-finals that will be played at Independence Park on Saturday are:

8am-10am Central JSS vs Mele Weaners
10am-12noon Malapoa College vs PVIS

The winners of the two semi-finals will play off for the UNELCO trophy on Saturday 13 September at Independence Park 8:30-11am.

The Vanuatu Cricket Association wishes all teams good luck in the finals and is confident that all games will be played within the "Spirit of Cricket".

The VCA encourages the parents; friends; schoolmates and anyone else interested in the development of young sportspeople to come and watch the UNELCO U-15 finals.