Tom's 34-ball ton lights up CI League opener
Tom Nightingale had statisticians reaching for the record books on Saturday with possibly the quickest century in CI League history, if not all top-flight domestic club competitions.
The Island all-rounder reached three figures from just 34 deliveries, having completed his 50 in an astonishing 14 balls, as last year’s runners-up Cobo got their 2024 campaign off to a comprehensive five-wicket win over Wanderers-Irregulars.
‘He batted exceptionally,’ Cobo skipper Ollie Nightingale said of his brother.
‘He struck it nicely from ball one and from then on he didn’t really stop – he just kept whacking it and playing his shots.
‘It was the attacking brand of cricket that Guernsey are trying to play. Tommy just took it into club cricket.’
With the threat of rain never far away from the KGV, although the brisk wind seemed to send the darkest of the clouds skirting around the ground, the centurion was in no mood to hang around as Cobo set about chasing 179 for victory in their 45-over contest.
They lost Josh Butler to a duck in the first over of the reply, but Nightingale came in and he had accumulated 61 before he faced a dot ball.
In a second-wicket stand of 96, Alex Bushell contributed just a dozen runs.
Nightingale was not quite able to see Cobo over the line, eventually falling for 105 from 38 balls with 10 fours and seven sixes, but they reached their target in just 17.3 overs.
‘It definitely helps our net run-rate and gives us momentum for our next game,’ said Ollie Nightingale, who chipped in with 29.
