Do or die double header tonight

After dropping their first game of the Turtles Domestic League III against Te-Au-O-Tonga in emphatic style last Friday – the Ngatangiia-Matavera cricket team will need to win at least one of their matches tonight to stay in contention for a finals spot.

Wins in both of their games will put them right back at the top of the table and will give their net run rate a major boost.

Heading into the tournament Ngatangiia-Matavera were favourites and Cook Islands Cricket chief executive officer Alister Stevic doesn’t think that has changed.

“Ngatangiia-Matavera is a fiery team jam packed with talent and a great on field work ethic, so despite dropping their first game we can expect them to come out firing and remind everyone why they are hot contenders for a finals spot.”

Their first game tonight is against defending champs Puaikura-Titikaveka, who last week fought back from the brink of despair to post 113 runs against Te-Au-O-Tonga who they duly dismissed for 82.

A champion effort given Te-Au-O-Tonga had just put on a runs feast posting a record 193 runs against Ngatangiia-Matavera the match before.

While the standard was extremely high last week Stevic believes that spectators will see plenty more action this week.

“There certainly were some nerves last week – it’s a big occasion for the guys to play at this level, to adjust to playing under lights for the first time and for the players to gel as a team. Last week we witnessed some of the finest cricket matches the island has ever seen and this week will be no different especially with the eastern studs Ngatangiia-Matavera out for blood.”

Stevic also commented that spectators can expect to see a significant increase in strategy heading into tonight’s matches.

“Batters are looking to hit big every ball and clear the boundary so a bowler should always be looking to fool the batter by varying the speed at which they bowl the ball. So I anticipate the coaches have recognised that from last week and have made a concerted effort at trainings to encourage the bowlers to mix it up a little”. “Batting in Twenty20 is difficult, because the expectation on the batter is that they should be looking to score a run off every ball, with every other ball going to the boundary for four or six.”

President Oliver Syme, who is one of six on the Turtles Domestic League Umpires panel, said the umpires are looking forward to another big night of cricket at the BCI Stadium.

At 5.15pm Ngatangiia-Matavera will face Titikaveka-Puaikura to be umpired by Dave Leeming and Wayne Lee.

The second game of the night will see Ngatangiia-Matavera return to the pitch to face Te-Au-O-Tonga with this game to be umpired by Guy Savage and Oliver Syme. Grab your mates and get along to the BCI Stadium tonight for another night of fantastic 20Twenty cricket – island styles.