Vanuatu T10 Blast | Mansale’s heroics in vain as Panthers down Bulls in season opener

Vanuatu T10 Blast | Mansale’s heroics in vain as Panthers down Bulls in season opener

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Panthers won the inaugural match of the Vanuatu T10 Blast

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Mighty Efate Panthers, thanks to cameos from Rasu and Viraliuliu, registered a comfortable 37-run win over MT Bulls in the first match of the Vanuatu T10 Blast. Chasing 129 in 10 overs, Andrew Mansale scored a thumping 75 for the Bulls, but that wasn’t enough as the Bulls slumped to defeat.

Brief scores - Panthers 128/5 off 10 overs (Rasu 33 and Mansale 2/23) beat Bulls 91/7 off 10 overs (Mansale 75 and Viraliuliu 3/16) by 37 runs.

Rasu and Viraliuliu set the tone for the Vanuatu T10 Blast

Thursday, May 21, marked the return of the sport of cricket post the Covid-19 outbreak and the proceedings were kick-started by the Vanuatu T10 Blast game between Efate Panthers and MT Bulls. In conditions perfect for cricket on a serene Thursday morning, it was the Panthers who batted first, with the duo of Joshua Rasu and Lazaro Carlot walking out to the middle. And the Bulls, the bowling side, got off to a dream start, dismissing Carlot on just the third ball of the tournament to draw first blood in the contest. However, while the tide seemed to be favouring the bowling side in the initial stages of the match, Rasu single-handedly turned things around in the Panthers’ favour, as he creamed the Bulls bowlers to all parts of the ground, blasting a 15-ball 33 to quickly take the scoring rate to 14 an over. Within the blink of an eye, the Panthers bludgeoned their way to 69/2 off five overs. Then, back-to-back strikes in the middle overs, including the prized wicket of Rasu, pegged the batting side back temporarily, but a vicious onslaught towards the end from the duo of W Viraliuliu and Simpson Obed rocked the Bulls. The duo combinedly scored 47 runs off just 20 balls, hitting eight boundaries between them, to propel the Efate Panthers to a gargantuan score of 128/5 at the end of their quota of 10 overs.

Mansale’s heroics in vain as Panthers restrict Bulls to 91

With the required run rate an astronomical 12.9 right from ball one, the Bulls had no option but to go for broke from the very first ball and in pursuit of doing so, they lost both their openers -  P Matautaava and Clement Tommy - for single digit scores, leaving the side reeling at 8/2 in the second over. With the chances of the Bulls chasing down the target looking extremely bleak with every passing ball, in walked Andrew Mansale at No.3 and the Bulls batter launched a remarkable onslaught on the Panthers bowlers, cutting loose right from ball one. After depositing the first ball he faced to the boundary, Mansale then single-handedly took it upon himself to take down the Panthers bowlers and remarkably hit eight sixes and three fours to bulldoze his way to 75 off just 37 balls. However, while from one end, it was fireworks from the bat of Mansale, from the other, it was a sorrow showing from the Bulls batsmen as the other six batsmen registered four ducks, combinedly scoring just 9 runs between them to provide absolutely no support whatsoever to Mansale. For the Panthers, it was Viraliuliu, who struck an explosive cameo with the bat, who starred with the ball as he ended up with figures of 3/16 off his 2 overs, breaking the back of the Bulls side. Eventually, Mansale perished swinging, for a score of 75, but his heroics were simply not good enough as an overall inept show from the Bulls batsmen meant that 91 was all they scored, falling short of the target by 37 runs. The Efate Panthers, with the win, ensured that they started off their Vanuatu T10 Blast campaign on a winning note. 

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