North Efate defeat Malapoa College by One Run in cliffhanger (19 Nov 1999)

19 November 1999

North Efate defeat Malapoa College by One Run in cliffhanger

North Efate defeat Malapoa College by One Run in cliffhanger Cricket Final

The final of the BDO Cricket Championship was held in glorious weather (it had to happen some time) last Saturday.

North Efate batted first and got off to a solid start from Mengede and Hurley who weathered the initial onslaught from the feared Patrick Haines and Regson, young skipper of Malapoa. North Efate looked set for a mammoth total until Colin Qualao got Green caught deep on the boundary. Colin followed up with three more wickets in quick succession to finish the match with 4 to 25 from 4 overs. Despite Stafford playing a solid sheet anchor role North Efate looked to be a skaky ground in the middle of their innings. It was not until Eric Natui joined in with a quick-fire 27 runs late in the innings that North Efate was able to reach a respectable total of 140 with Stafford out for 27 in the last over after holding the innings together. John Niroa picked up some key wickets in his 3 for 31 off six 0vers.

Malapoa started cautiously but Colin Qualao (44 runs) with Anthony (22) put on a punishing 61 run partnership for the second wicket. Eric Natui once again proved a force in breaking key partnerships. Eric ended the match with 4 for 17. The other Malapoa batsmen to show real resistence were Desmond (26 runs) and Patrick Haines who played an uncharacteristic dead-bat role. These two put Malapoa within striking distance of North Efate with plenty of balls. Whey they both got out to Glen Green (3 for 13 of overs) the same over Malapoa needed eight runs for victory with 20 balls remaining. North Efate then proceeded to bowl five wides to bring the margin even closer.

The match came down to the final over two runs required to draw and three for victory Derrick picked up a single from the first ball. This put Regson on strike. Still time for victory to either side with only four balls to go. Fortunately for North Efate the third ball of the over caught an inside edge and cannoned into the stumps.

Thats it, what a game, victory to North Efate by only the barest of Margins. Spectators could not believe it. The International Cricket Council representative, Andrew Eade described it as one of the best games of cricket he had ever seen. Enough said Cricket was the real winner.

KANGA CRICKET TOURNAMENT A GREAT SUCCESS

The VCA and Australian High Commission sponsored a Kanga Cricket Tournament for girls and boys aged between 7 and 13 years over the last two weekends. Nineteen teams and around 200 kids participated in the tournament and had great fun.

The Kanga Cricket Tournament was designed to introduce many of the children to cricket. There were teams from:-

Central Primary School Port Vila International School Anabrou Primary School Kawenu Primary School Pango French School Mele Village PMC Sunday School Pakaroa Sunday School Freshwater Community

All the kids really enjoyed the chance to play this simple form of cricket. The VCA is confident that this will lead to a formalised Saturday morning competition in the 2000 season for Junior Cricket.