Manx arrive as Cobo complete the double

That was the encore to the cricket show yesterday at the KGV where earlier Guernsey under-17s had played host to their Isle of Man counterparts in back-to-back T20 fixtures made possible by the air bridge between the two islands.

The Sarnians won both of those well-contested matches with Marcus Thomas among the runs with a quickfire half-century, but it was the visiting Manx under-13s who prevailed in their corresponding fixtures at the College Field where opener Lucy Barnett made 62 out of 137 in the second game to lay the foundations for a 26-run victory.

In the big Odey Wealth Evening League Division One game of the day, Cobo were set a testing target of 129 to win from their 16 overs after Tom Nightingale had starred with the bat for Independents, making 57, with useful contributions coming from Nathan Le Tissier and Ant Stokes.

Cobo lost both openers – Tim Ravenscroft and Declan Martel – inside the powerplay at the start of their run chase, but captain Josh Butler and island colleague Ben Ferbrache came together and saw their side home with eight wickets and eight balls to spare with an unbroken third-wicket stand of 94.

Butler played some typically classy shots, but Ferbrache caught up with and overtook his skipper to top score with 58 not out and he sealed the title in style, pulling his weekend teammate Will Peatfield for six.

‘That’s three Evening Leagues in a row now so you can’t argue too much with that and then to add the Afternoon League as well this year – the two prestigious trophies domestically – we’re very happy,’ said Butler.

‘We’ve got Irregulars next week and we’re still definitely wanting to win that and go unbeaten this year.’