La Manga 20/20 Tournament
Cricket teams from all over Spain came to La Manga to play the first ever 20/20 cricket tournament over two days recently and no one was disappointed with the standard of cricket. It was a great success for La Manga who were the main sponsor of the event and for Spanish cricket. Over 100 cricketers took part in the event and some juniors from the Spanish national team took part too and this was a great experience for them to take part in this event and to play against good Spanish senior cricketers. A big thank you to all the officials, scorers, umpires and ground staff who sacrificed their time and put in a great deal of hard work in order to make the 20/20 weekend a success.
The spectators who came from all over Spain to watch this first ever 20/20 event were not disappointed with the cricket that was played. Saturday saw the 8 teams play each other all day till dusk and then took a break for an excellent Gala Dinner given by our sponsor, La Manga Club, to all the cricketers, their families and friends. One special guest who had given up a lot of time to organise this event was the talented Ms Caren Wassink.
The final day saw the semi finals. Firstly, Valencia who won Group A and Campoamor CC, who came 2nd in Group B. Campoamor CC took the game to the last ball, Valencia needing 5 to win and Campoamor Captain George Wambeek saved the day with the last ball by restricting Valencia to 2 runs. The second semi final was an easy win for Calon who beat Barcelona CC with overs to spare. Barcelona 95 all out and Calon 96 for 3.
The Final was played with reduced overs due to light and the two Captains agreed on a 12 over match. It was Calon CC who took first knock and put on a total of 127 for 5 in 12 overs, with their Captain Faren hitting 7 sixes to reach 62 not out. The Campoamor bowlers, Wambeek and Rodrogures, took all the wickets. Campoamor CC's batting soon saw Wasim Kahan bowled in the 2nd over for 8 and our Spanish junior who had made such a big impression over the weekend was not able to produce the big knock that everyone wanted and was run out on 30 and with Juan Rodrigues was not out on 14. Campoamor not able to cope with the tight bowling of Calon and were short by 38 runs.
The Champions Calon CC were delighted to win the first ever 20/20 at La Manga Club. The Man of the Tournament was awarded to S. Ali from Campoamor CC for his excellent batting and wicket keeping. (G Wambeek)