JERSEY’S emphatic 172-run victory over Papua New Guinea today surely fits the bill as the near perfect team performance.
After winning the toss, Chuggy Perchard elected to bat first at Nairobi Gymkhana, and Jersey duly piled up a mammoth 347 for 5 before bowling PNG out for just 175.
The name Tribe will hardly be a welcome one in the PNG dressing room. After Asa Tribe’s spectacular 175 at Farmers Field last year, this time it was brother Zak (left) who stole the headlines, smashing 150 from just 129 deliveries.
He was backed up by identical scores of 72 from Josh Lawrenson and Jonty Jenner – although they were scored in very different styles.
Harrison Carlyon and Lawrenson made a bright start on a slow surface before Carlyon was smartly caught at second-slip for a run-a-ball 18.
Asa Tribe joined Lawrenson and initially looked patient, before three boundaries in an over off Aue Oru suggested he was ready to accelerate.
Oru had the last laugh, however, forcing a chop-on to dismiss him for 23.
Remove one Tribe however, and the other one will get you.
Zak settled quickly alongside Lawrenson, the pair rotating the strike impressively in the Kenyan heat.
Both passed 50 before Tribe really began to turn up the temperature, using the depth of the crease to good effect against the slow turning wicket.
Tribe, who was itching to take the PNG spinners over mid-wicket, did just so, launching a towering six off the back foot to bring up his second List A century from 105 balls.
Lawrenson eventually departed in the 42nd over for a vital 72, ending a third-wicket stand of 165 that had laid the foundations for a huge finish.
Enter Jonty Jenner (right), stage left – or, more accurately, stage everywhere.
With eight overs remaining, memories of AB de Villiers’ demolition job against the West Indies in Johannesburg in 2015 came flooding back as Jenner unleashed an outrageous assault.
Nine sixes flew from his bat in a 23-ball 72, including a 17-ball half-century that fell just one delivery short of the List A international record.
His wrists did most of the talking, peppering the leg-side boundary before producing arguably the shot of the innings – a tumbling reverse sweep for six off John Kariko.
Three consecutive sixes off Alei Nao followed in the penultimate over before Jenner finally departed, caught off a leading edge chasing another maximum.
His fourth-wicket partnership with Tribe had yielded an eye-watering 112 in just 6.4 overs.
Tribe then completed his 150, becoming the second member of this Jersey squad to reach that landmark at List A level.
The other? His brother, naturally.
PNG’s reply could hardly have started worse.
Opening the innings with Carlyon’s off-spin, he struck in the opening over, Doko Rupa top-edging a slog sweep to the skipper at fine leg for a duck.
George Richardson then removed dangerman Sese Bau for 22, before the magnificent Ben Ward (left) took centre stage.
The magician bamboozled PNG with a devastating five-wicket haul, first bowling Patrick Nou with a perfect googly before trapping Lega Siaka lbw for 39.
From 76 for 3, PNG collapsed to 94 for 7, losing four wickets for just 18 runs as Ward ripped through the middle order.
Perchard also chipped in with two wickets in a traditionally economical spell as Jersey’s bowlers tightened the screws.
Alei Nao (32) and Kabua Morea (40) spared PNG further embarrassment, lifting them from 101 for 8 to 175 before Lawrenson claimed the final wicket.
Player of the match? I’ll leave that to the punters.
Jersey remain firmly atop the group and face Kenya next on Sunday, with a 7.30am Jersey-time start.
Jersey: Charles Perchard (c), Harrison Carlyon, Josh Lawrenson, Zak Tribe, Asa Tribe, Ben Ward, Charlie Brennan, George Richardson, Jake Dunford, Jonty Jenner, Julius Sumerauer
PNG: Assad Vala (c), Sese Bau, Doko Rupa, Lega Siaka, Patrick Nou, Boio Ray, Tony Ura, Alei Nao, John Kariko, Aue Oru, Kabua Morea
