19th straight Independence Cup win for Mele
The Mele Bulls won the annual Vanuatu Independence Cup for a record nineteenth consecutive time after defeating North Efate Bushpigs by nine wickets.
After winning the toss, the North Efate Bushpigs elected to bat in the Grand Final of the Independence Cup, held on Independence Day at Kazza Field.
With four current senior national men's players and three national Under 17 players in the line-up, Mele Bulls went into the match as hot favorites, looking to win an unprecedented 19th consecutive title.
With a very strong bowling line-up to compete against, North Efate never got going and were eventually bowled out for 110. Current senior national opening bowler, Patrick Matautaava made an impressive comeback after a month out of cricket due to a back injury taking a wicket.
Vanuatu captain, Andrew Mansale also chipped away at the North Efate batsmen, taking two wickets with his handy off-spin bowling in the middle overs, but the outstanding bowling performance came from ex-national player and current VCA General Manager Pierre Chila who took a match winning 3/14 of his 4 allotted overs.
Eddie Mansale, brother of Andrew and current national player was the main contributor with the bat for North Efate scoring 30 runs
In reply, Mele Bulls chased down the modest North Efate total in eight overs with the loss of one wicket. Andrew Masale was the star for Mele scoring and unbeaten 75 runs off only 25 balls including eight sixes.
"I am very proud of the performances of the boys today," said Mele Bulls Captain, Trevor Langa. "To win the Annual Independence Cup for a record 19th year in a row is an amazing effort. The boys have worked very hard."
Trevor Langa received the Independence Cup from Mark Stafford (President of VCA) while Andrew Mansale won the Batting Award and Pierre Chila the Bowling Award on the day.
The Independence Cup is an Annual Knockout Twenty20 Tournament, played between the eight clubs competing in the BDO Club Competition. The Independence Cup commenced on Saturday 21st July and has been running for over 50 years.
Summary:
Mele Bulls 1/111 (8) Andrew Mansale 75* (25), Trevor Langa 14 defeated North Efate Bushpigs 10/110 (20) Eddie Mansale 30, Pierre Chila 3/14 (4)
Mele won by 9 wickets with 72 balls to spare