Zagreb Win Sveti Ante Cup

Hrvatski Sokol CC from Zagreb are the Croatian T20 champions after going through the 'Sveti Ante' cup undefeated in Split on the weekend.

Hosts Sir Oliver CC from Split played Sir William Hoste CC from the island of Vis in the opening match of the tournament. Some good early bowling and fielding from the Višani had Split in trouble, taking early wickets. Split's Croatian international Nikola Davidović then came to the crease and after riding some early luck, thanks to the sun getting in the eyes of Vis captian Craig Wear when he skied a catch to him, he was in formidable form, finding all parts of the boundary in his 79. A quik-fire cameo innings from Ivan Bilic meant that Vis would have to chase down Split's 186. Good bowling from Split, and especially Petar Mardešić meant that the target was going to be a hard ask for the boys from Vis. They battled till the end but were eventually bowled out for 73.

The next match saw defending champions Hrvatski Sokol CC from Zagreb take on Vis. After winning the toss and electing to bat, Vis captian Wear made sure his side got off to a solid start. The captian played an anchor role as the rest of the Vis batting line-up chimed in to see Vis reach 117 in their 20 overs. Zagreb got off to a shakey start, losing two early wickets before captian Craig Sinovich and Paul Mušin put on an unbeaten century partnership to take the Zagreb side to victory.

The win for Zagreb meant a showdown in the final match against Split to see who would take home the Sveti Ante cup for 2012. Split won the toss and elected to bat first and got off to a solid start despite losing an early wicket. It was that man Davidović again who was the star of the show, dominating the Zagreb attack with some tremendous strokeplay. Davidović's 117 not out, assisted by a quick 23 from Ivan Pazanin, helped Split reach 220/4 in their 20 overs.
 
Needing a daunting 221 to retain the Sveti Ante Cup, Zagreb's opening pair of Richard Probst and Daniel George got off to soild start and got through to 93 without loss at drinks. With 10 overs remaining and still over 12 runs an over required the pair started to put their foot down, big hitting Probst was impressive in his 64 and set the platform for George who looked like he was in a rush to catch a plane from the nearby Split airport as he began to take the Split bowling apart, George scored 50 runs off 11 scoring shots on his way to the nervous 90's. With Zagreb needing 2 to win and George on 99, Petar Mardešić spoilt his party, tempting Geroge into another big shot as the Zagreb opener found deep midwicket and was left stranded on 99. George's innings earnt him the player of the tournament award and meant that Zagreb lifted the Sveti Ante Cup.

Batsman of the Tournament: Nikola Davidović (Split)

Bowler of the Tournament: Petar Mardešić (Split)

Player of the Tournament: Daniel George (Zagreb)

Results:

Game 1. Split 186/9 (N.Davidović 79, I.Bilić 23, D.Sviličić 2-39, C.Wear 2-25, O. Roki 2-16)
Vis 73 (D.Sviličić 12, P.Mardešić 2-7)

Game 2. Vis 117 (C.Wear 38, Z.Kuljiš 13, V.Sharma 2-12, J.Butković 2-32)
Zagreb 119/2 (10.2 overs) (P.Mušin 46*, C. Sinovich 37*)

Game 3. Split 220/4 (N.Davidović 117*, I.Pazanin 23, V.Sharma 1-15)
Zagreb 221/2 (D.George 99, R.Probst 64, P.Mardešić 1-21)