What time is it? It’s Simpson Obed O’clock

After being inserted into bat on a bright and sunny Saturday afternoon, the Panthers were in a mood to pounce and they made their intentions clear from ball one. Joshu Rasu, coming on the back of an unbeaten 70 in the previous game, took on Sharks’ trump card Obed Yosef in the very first over, thwarted the left-arm spinner for a four and six, and asserted his authority in the match from the get go. However, unlike last week, seven balls was all his cameo lasted today as Rasu soon made the long walk back to the pavilion after miscuing one off the bowling of leggie Vince Vira who, to his credit, threw the ball up and tempted the batsman. Rasu’s dismissal provided an opportunity for his partner Lazaro Carlot to shine, but unfortunately, he squandered it for the fourth game running, perishing to the pace of A Stephen for a run-a-ball 11. And, to add to the Panthers’ woes, three balls was all their MVP Viraliuliu lasted today and within the blink of an eye, they were in a spot of bother, reduced to 50-4 just over the half-way mark.  The wrecker-in-chief for the Sharks was none other than Niko Unavalu who, with his deceptive medium pacers, in fact, accounted for the wickets of Viraliuliu and Jarryd Allan on back-to-back deliveries in the sixth over. But much to the Sharks’ dismay, the mini collapse in the middle turned out to be nothing but a smokescreen for a vicious onslaught from Simpson Obed towards the latter half of the innings. Having threatened to go big in each of the the first three games of this Betbarter Vanuatu T10 Blast, Obed realized his true potential with the bat today and struck three fours and as many humongous sixes en route a 16-ball 40 to propel the table toppers to 99/6 at the end of their innings. This was, in fact, the first time in this tournament the Panthers had failed to breach the 100-run mark whilst batting first. 

Having not really fired with the bat all tournament -  scoring just 35 in their first game and then grinding it out to chase 62 versus the Bulls - chasing 100 against the table-toppers was going to be a big ask for the Sharks. But instead, what unravelled in the very first over was a plot-twist that no one quite saw coming and something that truly left the Panthers in a state of shock. Nalin Nipiko, whose 33* dragged the Sharks over the line versus the Bulls, went on a rampage and slog swept Simpson Obed four times in the very first over - hitting two fours and two sixes - to catapult the Blues to 20/0 after the very first over, leaving the Panthers rocked. At the other end, though, there were contrasting fortunes as Kalworai perished for a golden duck, but there were still smiles around the Sharks’ dugout, for Nipiko was still there at the crease. However, the smiles perished in no time as Nipiko, in the third over, went for one shot too many, dying by the sword, holing out to the man at short fine-leg, allowing his nemesis Obed to have the last laugh. Given no Sharks batsman barring Nipiko had scored over 10 runs in a single match all tournament, chasing down 100 looked like a huge mountain to climb, with the Sharks, at 40/3 at the half-way mark, still needing 60 off the last 5 overs. But doomsday beckoned for the Blues in just the sixth over and the kiss of death was given to them by none other than Joshua Rasu. With the score 43/3, the offie accounted for the wickets of Vira, Stephen and Unavulu in back-to-back-to-back deliveries, claiming the first hat-trick of the Betbarter Vanuatu T10 Blast to virtually seal victory for his side. Post the dramatic collapse, the last four overs of Sharks’ chase was nothing but mere formality and Kenny Tari and Tony Tamata cleaned up the Blues’ tail to register a dominant 30-run win for the Panthers to keep their position intact at the top of the table.