Former county man makes mark

NICK DERBYSHIRE claimed his first five-wicket haul in Guernsey cricket as Rovers eased to victory against Total Cobo on Saturday. The former county player bowled with good pace and accuracy, making full use of having the strong breeze at his back from the Blancs Bois end of the KGV, as the opposition were dismissed for a mediocre 164.

Cobo would have been quite satisfied to have lost only one wicket during Derbyshire's opening six-over burst, that of Matt Oliver who got a leading edge that looped back to the bowler.

But the rest of the attack, particularly Stuart Bisson and Tim Duke, kept the shackles on and made a couple of vital breakthroughs before Derbyshire returned to rip through the middle order.

When asked if he was pleased with his performance, Derbyshire's answer was simply, 'you have got to be pleased with five wickets'.

The one positive for Cobo on the day was Stuart Le Prevost's well-constructed 64 coming in at number three with Jeremy Frith unavailable once again.

The island batsman was solid in defence and crisp in attack during his 101-ball stay with his early boundaries coming from a couple of square cuts. Later on a couple of times Bisson made the mistake of slipping onto leg stump and those balls were severely dealt with.

But Bisson was to get his revenge when he finally got through Le Prevost's defences for a deserved second wicket, the first being that of Cobo's captain and other main contributor Peter Vidamour.

The opener had scored a patient 30 in a 72 partnership with Le Prevost, but only Justin Ferbrache and TJ Ozanne also reached double figures.

To have any chance of winning the game, Cobo needed a couple of early wickets but only one arrived as Paul Butler took a sharp catch at gully to dismiss Jon Baker off the pick of the bowlers, Mark Culverwell.

Bisson, opening for the second time in as many games, again showed great competence with the bat with a couple of delightful drives the highlights of his 50.

He said afterwards: 'Obviously, it is a new role for me but I am enjoying it at the moment and I am happy with the way I am hitting the ball'.

Duke again looked very comfortable in making 39, although the bowling was very inconsistent, and when he went Tim de Putron plundered a quickfire 37 as he mercilessly punished anything loose.

Rovers reached their target with 11 overs and six wickets to spare.

'I was pleased all the missing links came together. We did well in all departments of the game,' said stand-in captain Duke.