Betbarter Vanuatu T10 Blast | Team of the tournament ft.Andrew Mansale, Nalin Nipiko and Viraliuliu
The inaugural edition of the Vanuatu T10 Blast came to its conclusion on Saturday, with Ifira Sharks being crowned as the first ever champions. However, there were some phenomenal individual performances throughout the tournament and thus, now, we’re going to compile the team of the tournament.
Joshua Rasu
Mighty Efate Panthers, despite losing in the final, passed the 95-run mark in this tournament a staggering three times and integral to this achievement was opener Joshua Rasu. A batsman not afraid to express himself right from the word go, Rasu, throughout the course of the tournament, took the attack to the bowlers up-front and developed a reputation for himself as the assassin up-front. Despite not firing the way he would have wanted towards the back end of the tournament, Rasu left quite the mark through his performances in the early stages and that sees him find a place in our team of the tournament.
Nalin Nipiko
Stories about one cricketer single-handedly leading a side to victory are often exaggerated, but that was not simply the case with Nipiko. The captain of the title-winning Sharks side, Nipiko stood tall for his side right from the very first ball he faced in this tournament and ensured that he did everything within his power to make the team - be it batting long, bowling at the death or even chipping in with direct hits. It was only fitting that he won the Man of the Match award in the final and it goes unsaid that we will see a lot of this bloke in the years to come.
Andrew Mansale
It was a shame that the Bulls failed to make the final, for the simple fact that Andrew Mansale’s performances in this tournament demanded him being a part of the finale. The highest run-getter and six-hitter in the tournament, Mansale’s contribution remarkably did not just stop with the bat, with him finishing with 9 wickets in the tournament to assert himself as the competition’s best all-rounder. I guess, by now, it is pretty evident why he skippers the Vanuatu national side.
Wesley Viraliuliu
The Panthers went down fighting in the final and it was perhaps fitting that they succumbed after resistance from their MVP - Wesley Viraliuliu. The right-hander, with his cameos, set the tournament ablaze in its initial stages and despite misfiring in the middle, gave fans a fleeting glance of his true potential in the final on Saturday. There were doubts cast on the six-hitting ability of these players prior to the tournament, but Viraliuliu squashed everything and set the precedent for the other players to follow, through his aggressive batting. That he took over 5 wickets in the tournament makes him a complete package.
Simpson Obed
Such was the performance of Simpson Obed in this tournament that if we were to make a separate ‘best batsmen’ list and a separate ‘best bowlers’ list, he would make the cut in both. Be it providing breakthroughs for his side with the new ball or playing valuable knocks down the order, Obed was an absolute rock for the Panthers in the tournament and was integral to them dominating the round robin stages. His side might have not won the competition, but the all-rounder ended up winning plenty of hearts thanks to his tireless dedication.
Jarryd Allan
A striking feature in every Panthers match was their quirky, restless wicket-keeper behind the stumps, Jarryd Allan. A role of a specialist wicket-keeper in shorter formats is often undermined, but Allan, through his flawless display, showed how perfect wicket-keeping could help sides create something out of nothing and give a boost to the whole team. He did not quite fire with the bat as he would have liked to, but nevertheless, there is absolutely no doubt that he was, by far, the best glovesman in the whole competition.
Jamal Vira
It is ludicrous how certain players have the tendency to magically step up and rescue their teams in big games and crisis situations. Jamal Vira is certainly a batsman of that prototype. Vira saved the best for the last and brought out the ice-cold avatar to rescue his side in the final, but there were plenty of other little cameos from his bat throughout the course of the tournament which helped the Sharks assert their authority just at the right time. You certainly have to be good to make it in the ‘team of the tournament’ as a batsman, despite being a wicket-keeper.
Apolinaire Stephen
All-rounder Apolinaire Stephen finds himself batting at No.8 - in contrast to the ‘opener’ label he donned in the tournament - in our team of the tournament and it could be said that his batting fired just at the right time for him to find a place in this side. Stephen, throughout the tournament, excelled with the ball in his hand but he took his batting up a notch in the last two matchdays to prove to be an invaluable asset for the Sharks. The Vanuatu national team is certainly blessed with a plethora of versatile all-rounders.
Tony Tamata
Completing the entirety of a T10 tournament under an economy rate of 7 is no mean feat but Tony Tamata managed to achieve it in this Vanuatu T10 Blast without breaking a sweat. From start to finish, Tony seldom changed his ploy - to bowl stump-to-stump - and the clarity of thought coupled with his consistency made him a very tough customer for the batsmen to handle. Bowling predominantly towards the latter half of the innings, Tony delivered for his skipper every time he was summoned upon. Indeed a shame that he ended up on the losing side.
Obed Yosef
Obed Yosef began the Vanuatu T10 Blast as a wicket-taker but with time, transformed himself into more of a container and that change paid dividends for the side in the final. A left-arm spinner who bowls with the new ball, Obed tormented right-handers with his immaculate control and consistency and played a key part in the Sharks establishing themselves as the best bowling side of the tournament. Him signing off with a spell in the final that read 2-0-9-0 was a poetic end to an impactful tournament, for the left-arm spinner.
Stephane Sandy
Stephane Sandy, with his high-arm off-spinners, complimented Yosef in the Sharks team and interestingly, he finds himself alongside his teammate in our Team of the Tournament as well. Unlike Yosef, though, Sandy did not transform and he was always a container from match 1 and he did his job to perfection - right till the very end. No surprise that our ‘Team of the Tournament’ is dominated by the champions, Ifira Sharks.
Vanuatu T10 Blast Team of the Tournament: Joshua Rasu, Nalin Nipiko ©, Andrew Mansale, Wesley Viraliuliu, Simpson Obed, Jarryd Allan (wk), Jamal Vira, Apolinaire Stephen, Tony Tamata, Obed Yosef, Stephane Sandy