Cobo captain leads by terrific example

TOTAL COBO owe captain Stuart Le Prevost an enormous debt of gratitude after the club retained the title of Channel Islands champions. The Guernsey batsman can feel justifiably aggrieved that his superb 88 in the semi-final against Optimists went largely unheralded due to other events during the game. He certainly deserved more credit for that outstanding display.

His response in the final, though, was exemplary.

With his side in strife at 16 for three, the Cobo captain produced a man-of-the-match award winning knock of 75 against Old Victorians at Grainville on Saturday to ensure that the trophy will stay at the Rockmount for another year.

The Jersey side, in particular Andy Dewhurst and Chris Jones, had ripped through the Cobo top order and had picked up the big wickets of island players Matt Oliver and Jeremy Frith by the end of the 10th over.

'I won the toss and thought great, have a bat and put 250 on the board,' said Le Prevost. 'It didn't turn out quite like that though.

'Conditions were tricky. It was not that the ball was moving sideways, but it was a ?tennis ball bounce?.'

Le Prevost began the rebuilding with the in-form Gary Rich, who was fresh from his second century inside a week, as they put on 61. Robbie Moore then chipped in with a useful 16 as Cobo eventually reached three figures.

The skipper brought up his 50 in 81 balls. In total he faced 99 deliveries and hit nine fours.

The killer partnership, though, came from TJ Ozanne (42) and Jamie Nussbaumer (19), who added 58 in little more than six overs at the end of the innings.

'TJ batted really well and the running between the wickets when he and Jamie were together was remarkable. They would hit the ball straight to point and get through for a single,' Le Prevost said.

'After we had batted, we said 180 would be a par score for that track so we were happy with 203.'

The experienced trio of Mark Renouf, Rich and Frith then shared the wickets between them as OVs were skittled out for 130, although Le Prevost was pleased with the way his whole attack bowled. 'Everyone contributed something to the win,' he said.