Cobo race to early finish
SPINNER Max Ellis picked up the man of the match bubbly, but the real fizz in the early season Spring Cup Final at KGV last evening was provided by his new Cobo teammates, Tim Ravenscroft and Kris Moherndl.
At an increasingly resplendent new-look home of evening cricket, Ellis took 3 for 13 to put the skids under the Rovers batting, while Ravenscroft and Moherndl blazed away for a pair of unbeaten 40-odds as the 18-over showdown ended one ball short of eight overs early.
Chasing such a meagre target, albeit on the livelier carpet, was never likely to test Cobo’s strong and deep batting line-up, spearheaded by new skipper Josh Butler and the free-scoring Ravenscroft.
But after seasons of playing on sluggish, low bouncing grass strips, this was an altogether different test and with the penultimate delivery of his opening over, skipper Stuart Bisson beat Butler’s outside edge with an absolute pearler and not only did Saturday’s centurion need replacing so, too, did a broken bail.
It was the perfect fillip for the Port Soif side, lacking Lee Savident on this occasion, but could seasoned reserve Matt Hallett impose similar problems from the 3G end. Swift answer... no.
Moherndl started as if he was impersonating his partner, smashing two fours through the covers in Hallett’s erratic opening over, but he was slightly fortunate to spoon a mis-hit just out of short extra’s reach in Bisson’s second.
Ravenscroft, too, also went close to holing out early on, but it made no difference to his approach and with his second-wicket partner playing some meaty shots they insured against nervousness by their colleagues in the concrete hutch in front of the new pavilion.
The six-over power play yielded 49 and an early finish was in prospect with Ravenscroft smashing sixes into trees at one end and the football pitch at the other, amid shouts of ‘heads’.
Frankly, it was all too easy pickings for the pair who, when the end arrived, had put on 94 in just 55 deliveries faced.
