Crusaders defeated Fuengirola Lions in a cricket match. Fuengirola Lions batted first and scored 274 runs, with Afzal Shah scoring a record-breaking 167 runs including 18 fours and 8 sixes. In response, Crusaders chased down the target of 275 runs with four overs to spare. Nasir Dar scored 113 runs and Chris Batten narrowly missed a century with 96 runs. Batten also took three wickets for Crusaders when they were batting. Batten was named man of the match for his all-round performance.

1. COSTA NEWS, February 22-28, 2018
Costa del Sol News 9 771137 042003
010 89
Chris Batten's all-round show
stuns Fuengirola Lions
Centuries for Afzal Shah and Nasir Dar, fifties for Ehthesham Khan and Chris batten
By Egan Steven Dantis
CRICKET returned to Cártama
oval after three matches were
called off due to bad weather.
Crusaders started their campaign
with some dominant perform-
ances with the bat against Fuen-
girola Lions on Saturday
.
It was raining sixes in Cár-
tama oval on Saturday after
Fuengirola dominated the first
half of the game. Crusaders
dominated the second half of the
game with some brilliant batting
performances by Nasir Dar 113
and Chris Batten 96 who nar-
rowly missed his century by 4
runs.
Earlier in the day Fuengirola
Lions won the toss and elected to
bat first. And were soon reduced
to 27-2 off 4 overs. Chris Batten
made some early damage with
the ball. The 4th wicket partner-
ship between Afzal shah (167) and
Ehthesham Khan (59) of 194 runs
made batting look easy
. Cru-
saders bowlers were smacked all
over the place. Afzal Shah’s rec-
ord breaking innings of 167 in-
cluded 18 fours and 8 sixes and
was dominant throughout the in-
nings.
The record was earlier held
by Crusader’s Jesper Hansen 131
against Málaga CC. The bowlers
suffered against Afzal Shah as he
kept punishing the Crusaders
bowlers by hitting them all over
the park. Egan Steven Dantis suf-
fered the most as he was taken to
the cleaners. Once the pair was
dismissed Crusaders made
breakthroughs and restricted
Fuengirola Lions to 274 allout in
29.5 overs. Egan SD took 3-70 and
Chris Batten 3-39.
Crusaders had to chase 275
off 35 overs, and again their
wickets in clusters and were re-
duced to 93-4 0ff 10 overs. Cru-
saders middle order has more ex-
perienced than Fuengirola Lions
which has saved Crusaders again
and again. Wickets kept tum-
bling but run making was easy
too for the batsman as Fuengi-
rola Lions bowlers didn’t look
threatening.
The 6th wicket partnership
between Nasir Dar and Chris
Batten of 164 runs took Cru-
saders to a comfortable victory
with 4 overs to spare. Chris
batten ended the chase in style
by smacking Nadeem Malik for a
huge six over midwicket. The
game was totally dominated by
the batsman as bowlers were all
over the place. Afzal Shah bowled
brilliantly following his record
breaking batting he took 2-38 and
Harry ended up with 1-48.
Fuengirola Lions CC 274-10
( Afzal Shah 167, Ehthesham
Khan 59, Chris Batten 3-39, Egan
SD 3-70) Lost to CDS Crusaders
275-4 (Nasir Dar 113, Chris
Batten 96, Afzal Shah 2-38, Harry
1-48)
Chris Batten was adjudged
Man of the Match for his all-
round performance. Crusaders
CC next match is on Sunday 25
February at 11am against Málaga
CC. Get in touch with us on Sports
World Spain for Match updates
and other information.
Crusaders and Fuengirola Lions
Umpire Raju Kantilal presenting man of the match award to
Chris Batten
Nasir Dar after getting to his
fifth hundred
Ehthesham Khan scored 59
runs
Afzal Shah scored 167