At the conclusion of the first weekend in the BetBarter Vanuatu T10 Blast competition, resumption of cricket was the biggest winner of them all, as Vanuatu players brought live action to millions of households across the globe after a long gap of almost two months. four matches were played across two days in the opening weekend of the competition and the results showed that even after such a long lay-off for players, the groove is coming back rather pretty quickly than a slow march towards it.
Mighty Efate Panthers, Mele Tafea Bulls and Ifira Sharks are the three teams in the T10 Blast, and the Panthers were clearly the dominating team during the opening weekend, winning all two out of their three round-robin group stage matches (one each against Bulls and Sharks), while Bulls and Sharks managed to pick up their solitary wins as well to keep the points table quite evenly matched with two more rounds of group stage matches to happen over the next two upcoming weekends.
While the tournament is being live streamed on the YouTube platforms of CricTracker, Sports Tiger and BetBarter, 1SPORTS has acquired the rights to telecast BetBarter Vanuatu Blast T10 League in the Indian Sub Continent.
Vanuatu national squad members Joshua Rasu, Wesley Vira, Andrew Mansale, Simpson Obed, Nalin Nipiko and Clement Tommy have put in notepworthy performances in the opening round of matches, while the big-hitting Patrick Matautaava will be itching for a big knock during the second weekend in the competition. Among the uncapped players, Philip Tsione has impressed in both the outings with the bat and will be banked upon in the Bulls middle-order to produce the goods again in the coming rounds. Vanuatu U19 players, who represented the country in the East Asia-Pacific qualifiers last year, will also be looking forward to getting more opportunities to showcase their talent at the senior level.
Brief Scores
Mighty Efate Panthers 128/5 in 10 overs (Joshua Rasu 33, Wesley Vira 26, Simpson Obed 21, McMillan Markia 17 n.o, Eddie Mansale 2/23, Patrick Matautaava 1/18, Godfrey Mangau 1/35) beat Mele Tafea Bulls 91/7 in 10 overs (Andrew Mansale 75, Wesley Vira 3/16, Shem Sala 1/6, Simpson Obed 1/20, Joshua Rasu 1/32) by 37 runs
Ifira Sharks 35 all out in 7.1 overs (Joshua Rasu 3/7, Simpson Obed 3/9, Tony Tamata 3/11, Wesley Vira 1/7) lost to Mighty Efate Panthers 36/5 in 7.4 overs (Simpson Obed 21, Stephane Sandy 1/3, Nalin Nipiko 1/1, Apolinaire Stephen 1/9, Obed Yoseph 1/10) by 5 wickets
Mele Tafea Bulls 61/6 in 10 overs (Eddie Mansale 23, Philip Tsione 20, Obed Yoseph 2/2, Nalin Nipiko 1/10, Vince Vira 1/14, Stephane Sandy 1/17, Apolinaire Stephen 1/17) lost to Ifira Sharks 62/6 in 8.5 overs (Nalin Nipiko 33 n.o, Patrick Matautaava 2/4, Eddie Mansale 2/8, Godfrey Mangau 1/16, Andrew Mansale 1/20) by 4 wickets
Mighty Efate Panthers 130/3 in 10 overs (Joshua Rasu 69 n.o, Wesley Vira 48, Andrew Mansale 2/22, Darren Wotu 1/30) lost to Mele Tafea Bulls 135/7 in 9.5 overs (Clement Tommy 50, Philip Tsione 21, Andrew Mansale 17, Rival Samson 13 n.o, Darren Wotu 10 n.o, Tony Tamata 2/20, Wesley Vira 1/25, Simpson Obed 1/25, Shem Sala 1/30) by 3 wickets
