SCOTT Simpson lit up the opening round of the JEP Knockout Trophy as his Trafalgar Pirates beat St John and International Royals defeated Beeches.
Usually found with the new ball in his hand, Simpson delivered with the bat on this occasion with an unbeaten 87.
He smashed the ball around Les Quennevais at will to spearhead the chase of St John’s solid score of 149-4 from their 15 overs.
Robin Carnegie impressed with the bat for St John with 48, but Simpson saw the defending champions over the line off the penultimate delivery for a six-wicket victory to start their Pirates’ campaign.
Over at Grainville, the International Royals recorded an eight-wicket win over Grant Thornton Beeches.
Batting first, Beeches scored 134-4 from their 20 overs, Adam Bradbury scoring 37 not out and Royals’ Tejpal Ambekallu recording 2-23 from his four overs.
The Royals reply started poorly, as Sumit Kumar walked for a duck in the first over off the bowling of Bradbury.
Yezdi Patel joined Talha Nasir at the crease, and 18 overs later the job was all but done.
The pair hit a second-wicket partnership of 132, with Patel eventually dismissed for a fine 46.
Nasir finished the contest for his team, ending unbeaten on 69 off 53 balls.
In the 40-over Division 1, both St Ouen Springfield (SOS) 2s and Walkovers 2s produced thrilling one-wicket wins.
SOS 2s extended their 100% record to four wins from four, chasing 147 nine wickets down against Farmers 2s.
Hosts Farmers got off to a good start, as openers James Turnbull (23) and Chris Hopwood (33) made inroads. Once they were both dismissed, however, the innings lost momentum as SOS picked up regular wickets.
Adam Bradbury offered a good contribution of 30, but his namesake, Adam Hayward, was the star of the innings with the ball, as he finished with excellent figures of 5-25 to bowl Farmers out for 146.
The reply saw openers Charlie Le Quelenec (22) and Hayward (16) begin strongly. Skipper Robbie Forrest led the way with 31, handily backed up by Ben Heelis (18) and Gareth Spence.
After the dismissal of Heelis, wickets tumbled regularly as Farmers’ Sol Bennett and Jonathan Wills picked up three wickets apiece.
However, Spence kept a cool head alongside the young Hugo Gomersall, joining him in at number 11, to see the team over the line by the finest of margins.
Game two of the day saw another close finish, as Walkovers 2s chased down a mammoth 260 in 39 overs to beat International Royals 1s.
Despite the early loss of Stuart Robson for three, Royals looked strong.
Sumit Kumar was in sparkling touch as he smashed 62 off 54 balls, including 11 fours, before holing out off the spin of Jack Gott, who claimed strong figures of 4-30 from his eight overs.
Abhishek Hongekar proved once again why he consistently tops run-scoring charts, making a wonderful 78 from 71 deliveries.
Although the middle order missed out, there were handy contributions lower down from Darshan Fulfagar (28) and Anosh Thampi (17) as they were bowled out for 259.
In reply, it was skipper Mikey Pih to the rescue for Walkovers. After Pih and Sam Gott put on 24 for the first wicket, a mini collapse saw them slump from 24-0 to 26-3, courtesy of the relentless bowling of Manu Thareja.
When Joe Dias was removed for 19 by Talha Nasir, in came Jack Gott to continue his superb match.
Gott and Pih combined to put on 126 for the fifth wicket, with the former in fine fettle, blasting 72 off just 48.
Pih also walked soon after, his excellent 87 coming off 90 balls with 11 fours.
Aditya Sambyal, batting at seven, looked aggressive but struggled to find a partner to stick with him.
When number 11 batter Neal Davies joined him at the crease, they still needed four runs to win.
Davies provided the winning boundary, however, as Sambyal ended on an impressive 33 not out to seal a fantastic victory.
In round five of the Evening League Championship, Grant Thornton Beeches 2s continued their winning streak as league leaders beating Nondescripts CC by six wickets.
Nondescripts posted 120-4 from their 15 overs, Simon Wade’s 29 the standout score. Beeches 2s chased it down inside 14 overs, thanks to an unbeaten 36 from Stefan Schausberger and a destructive 42 off just 20 balls from hard-hitting all-rounder Ben Jones.
Rathbones OV’s produced a batting clinic to beat Chirpy’s Chiefs by 84 runs. Jack Vowden held the innings together with 36 not out, with Ed Hodgson and Hector Chamberlain both smashing half centuries as the team posted a mammoth 173-1 from 15 overs.
Hodgson, who has been in scintillating form so far this campaign, knocked over six maximums in his 50, coming from just 18 deliveries.
Chamberlain was equally as potent, with four maximums as he brought up his fifty off 20 deliveries.
Francois Rousselle contributed 25 for Chirpy’s in reply, but two wickets from Theo Pullman and three each for Tom Terry and Jack Vowden saw OVs home as comfortable winners.
St Helier RFC were equally as devastating with the bat against Integritas CC, hitting 165-5 in 15 overs.
Ric Firth and Ben Rive both whacked unbeaten fifties, as мÓÆÂÁùºÏ²Ê Bulls goalkeeper Pierce Roche proved he’s quite handy with a bat, firing an unbeaten 31.
In reply, Gareth Spence produced another solid innings, retiring after he reached his own half century.
But Adam Hayward’s three wickets stood out as Integritas fell 39 runs short.
