The Belasko CI League continued on Saturday with excellent wins for St Ouen Springfield and Farmers Caesareans, but the Old Victorians were well beaten.
ATF St Ouen Springfield recorded their second win in three CI league games this season with an excellent four-wicket victory over Canaccord Genuity Griffins at Les Quennevais.
Fielding first, the typically difficult batting track offered it’s usual challenges.
Harrison Carlyon’s St Ouen picked up a couple of quick wickets courtesy of the returning fast bowler Anthony Kay.
However, Luke Bichard and Griffins’ skipper Tom Kirk dug in for the visitors, scoring 37 and 47 respectively as, along with a couple of lower-order cameos, the Sarnian side posted a competitive 190-9 from their 45 overs.
Wickets were shared around, with opening quickies Kay and Adam Hayward both picking up two, Jon Best burgling one, but the stand-out being Elliot Miles, with excellent figures of 3-33 from his nine overs.
In reply, it was a rinse and repeat of their previous match, uncannily so.
Opening batter Patrick Gouge is doing a heck of a job banging on Jersey coach Paul Hutchison’s door, as he recorded not only his second consecutive century of the CI League, but his second consecutive score of 123.
His 123 last week against TENN Wanderers Irregulars came off 95 balls and, this time around, Gouge scored 123 not out off 96 – an incredible achievement from the Caesarean.
The keeper and opening batter mastered the run chase, especially after SOS lost both Sam Patidar and skipper Harrison Carlyon early.
The ever-reliable Dom Blampied helped steer the ship with Gouge and contributed a solid 35, before he fell victim to one of Luke Bichard’s four wickets.
Jon Best, Adam Hayward and Ben Heelis would all follow in quick succession to Bichard, but Gouge saw his side over the line with just over 11 overs to spare.
SOS skipper Carlyon said: “We’re really happy with the overall performance.
“Having been put in the field, I thought Adam Hayward was superb with the new ball and bowled some fantastic deliveries throughout his spell.
“They recovered pretty well to their credit, but we felt 190 was maybe 20 runs under par.
“We’ve focused a lot this year on how we want to go about our cricket and have settled on aggressive pro active style.
“We said if we could chase it in 35 overs that would be a good target for us to set ourselves.
“Patrick [Gouge] once again typified exactly how we want to play as a side, scoring another top draw 100.
“It was great to watch, probably one of the best innings I’ve watched in club cricket over the years and is a product of his hard work and determination.
“I’m really happy for him, he spoke to me recently about feeling like he had a point to prove and I think he has certainly done this over the past few weeks and I hope he continues to do so.”
Over at Farmers Field, it was a far more comfortable victory for Farmers Caesareans over TENN Wanderers Irregulars, who continue to struggle in the CI League.
Batting first, Farmers lost their star batter from last week Josh Lawrenson for just eight, but they had James Smith to thank for eventually posting a solid 230-9 from their 45 overs.
Smith, in at five, scored an excellent 53 to repair the early wickets.
He was more than ably supported by a good 42 from Will Perchard, 35 from stand-in skipper Chuggy Perchard and a very useful cameo of 29 not out from Jack De Gruchy.
Louis Steyn was the pick of the bowlers for Wanderers with 4-33 from his spell.
In reply, Wanderers lost early wickets courtesy of a excellent new-ball spell from Will Perchard.
The all-rounder picked up both captain Lucas Barker in the first over and Harrison Tagg soon after to reduce the visitors to 9-2 in the third over.
Wanderers never recovered, especially when the spin twins Toby Britton and Rhys Palmer started to make the ball talk.
On a pitch that was offering a bit of spin, the pair took three wickets each to dismantle the Wanderers chase and eventually skittle them for just 87, Perchard himself coming in at the end to clean up the tail.
The stand-in skipper said: “I was impressed with how we went about this win.
“I thought Smithy batted excellently, supported really well by Will [Perchard] and a very good knock at the end from Jack [De Gruchy].
“We knew the pitch would take some turn just by looking at it, so we knew Toby [Britton] and Rhys [Palmer] would be a handful.
“For them to blow Wanderers away was good to watch and very clinical.
“We want to keep pushing now, we want to try and make it a double title winning season with the CI League alongside the T20 Cup.”
Rathbones Old Victorians sadly could not make it a clean sweep for the Jersey clubs however, as they were dominated by Piette Norman Cobo at KGV in Guernsey.
In the absence of captain James Duckett, Scott Simpson took control of the ship and had no hesitation in batting first.
Almost immediately, the tinge of green on the wicket was playing tricks on the OVs line-up and, when Charlie Brennan received a genuine seed to clean him up for just one, the innings looked doomed.
Just like last week, numbers three, four and five were each dismissed for ducks, bringing the hard-hitting all-rounder Ed Giles in at six.
What ensued, was a one-man mission. The OVs were eventually bowled out for 109, but when Giles had joined opener Elliot Corbel at the crease, the score was 14-4 and he was facing a hat-trick ball from Cobo’s Will Peatfield.
When Giles was eventually dismissed, he had smashed 80 off just 30 balls, including eight boundaries and six brutal maximums, a seriously impressive knock under trying circumstances.
However, 109 was never going to be enough against a team top of the league and unbeaten so far.
OVs did manage to make a game of it, taking six Cobo wickets as they slightly shuffled their batting line-up.
Giles backed up his sensational knock with two wickets and a catch, alongside Theo Pullman who bowled a great spell and also picked up two wickets.
However, Cobo eventually got over the line to win by four wickets, remaining unbeaten and top of the league and at the same time, rooting the OVs to the bottom of the league, still searching for their first win.
Simpson said: “I’m really proud of the efforts everyone put in for this one. In our second back-to-back away trip, it’s always challenging to have your full-strength side.
“But we stuck to our task brilliantly, especially with the ball and in the field.
“A score of 109 was never going to be enough and we need to get some more runs over the next few games, but in regards to our efforts with ball in hand, I thought we were superb.
“We are back home for the rest of the season now and we have a bit of a point to prove to get off the bottom of the table.”
