Oman demolish Nigeria; Jersey and Guernsey win

Aamir Kaleem's measured half-century helped Oman escape early danger against Nigeria to set up a thumping 181-run win at St Clement. Kaleem finished unbeaten on 78 and teamed with captain Ajay Lalcheta for a vital 101-run sixth-wicket partnership taking their side out of trouble from 116 for 5 after 37 overs to a comfortable 220 for 6 after being inserted to bat. Lalcheta and Rajeshkumar Ranpura then took four wickets each to skittle Nigeria out for 39.

Nigeria initially got off to a brilliant start in the field as Zeeshan Maqsood was beaten for pace by Okpe Issac for 13. Tight pressure in the circle resulted in the run-out of Khawar Ali for 14 in the 13th over to make it 35 for 2, after Vaibhav Wategaonkar turned down Khawar's call for a sharp run to cover. Three balls later, Wategaonkar chased a wide ball to edge behind for 3 off Oluseye Olympio.

Jatinder Singh, who struggled after being dropped at midwicket on nought, finally succumbed to offspinner Sesan Adedeji for 9, slicing a drive to point to make it 63 for 4 in the 24th. Through 31 overs, Nigeria continued to hold Oman in check at 88 for 4 and continued to keep six men in the circle.

But Oman's revival began in the 32nd when Kaleem took on Adedeji for a four over cover before slashing another over backward point two balls later. Kaleem teamed with Noorul Riaz, who made a crucial 39 off 81 on his Oman debut, for a 53-run stand before the latter missed a flick playing across to medium-pacer Leke Oyede.

Man-of-the-Match Lalcheta took advantage of the vast square boundaries at FB Fields, pushing hard for twos and threes with Kaleem, on his way to making 44 off 35 balls before he was run out during a hesitation for a second run in the final over. Kaleem brought up his 50 off 61 balls with a single to mid-off in the 44th off Nigeria captain Kunle Adegbola but Nigeria had a chance to curtail the sixth-wicket partnership.

In the 46th and 47th overs, Kaleem and Lalcheta offered three chances in the space of eight balls, none of which were claimed as Nigeria's previously sharp fielding flagged badly late in the innings. Kaleem was on 56 and the score 171 when he mistimed a lofted drive but the fielder running in from cover misjudged the chance. Two balls later, Kaleem rubbed salt into the wound, taking advantage of the short straight boundaries to drive Adegbola's offspin over mid-off for six.

In the following over, against medium-pacer Chimezie Onwuzulike, Lalcheta was on 23 when he sent a much simpler chance straight to Ademola Onikoyi at mid-on, who shelled it on his knees. Four balls later with the score on 188, Onwuzulike was done in again when Kaleem, on 63, was dropped at midwicket off a chest high chance. Aided by the poor fielding, Oman scored 10 or more runs in five of their last six overs to carry strong momentum into the break.

Nigeria folded meekly in their chase to a precise spell of swing bowling from Rajeshkumar Ranpura, who wiped out four of the top five during an unbroken 10-over spell with the new ball to claim 4 for 18. After Munis Ansari removed Onikoyi leg before with a full ball in the fourth over for 7, Ranpura claimed a simple return catch off Segun Olayinka for his first wicket before his next two victims - Adegbola and Joshua Ayannaike - edged into the slips cordon. He rounded off his haul by castling Oyede.

Lalcheta replaced Ansari in the 12th over and went on to clean up the tail, taking 4 for 7 in 6.5 overs as Nigeria lasted just 23.5 overs with no batsman reaching double-figures. Their final total of 39 was the third-lowest total in the history of the World Cricket League. Only Bhutan's 31 against Kuwait at Division Eight in 2010 and Mozambique's 19 all out against Nepal at St Saviour during Division Five in Jersey in 2008, a game famous for Mahaboob Alam claiming all 10 wickets, are worse.

In a rain-reduced game at St Saviour, Jersey claimed their first win by 102 runs over Vanuatu. With the game shortened to 37 overs a side after persistent showers throughout the morning, Vanuatu sent Jersey in and held them to 200 for 9. Man-of-the-Match Nat Watkins produced partnerships of 49, 48 and 46 runs with Peter Gough, Ben Stevens and Jonty Jenner respectively before he was fifth man out for a top score of 65 off 98 balls.

Vanuatu captain Andrew Mansale took four wickets for the second day in a row to tie down the Jersey middle order from producing a late surge, but by that stage the home side had more than enough runs to defend. Vanuatu still held outside hope of chasing down the target after reaching 76 for 2 after 20 overs, but Watkins sparked a collapse of 8 for 22 runs when he teased Joshua Rasu into an ambitious hoick and bowled the opener for 43.

Two overs after Rasu fell, Mansale played around a straight ball for 22 before Watkins rounded off his haul of 3 for 22 by drawing Ronald Tari out of his crease with a flighted ball for the first of two stumpings by Jake Dunford. Ben Stevens and Ben Kynman ripped through the Vanuatu lower order to claim figures of 3 for 21 and 2 for 19 respectively as the Pacific islanders were bundled out for 98 in 30.1 overs.

Guernsey maintained a perfect start, trampling Tanzania by eight wickets at St Martin. In another match shortened by weather, Tanzania were sent in to bat at the toss after the match was reduced to 42 overs a side. Three wickets with the new ball from Oliver Newey were followed by three more from left-arm spinner Max Ellis as Tanzania crumbled to 58 for 8 and were eventually bowled out in the last over for 108.

Opener Matthew Stokes top-scored for the second day in a row, ending unbeaten on 44 in Guernsey's chase. Despite the low target, Guernsey were made to work hard and reached the target in the 27th over.

Guernsey, Nigeria, Vanuatu and Tanzania all have Monday off while Jersey and Oman will replay their rained out fixture from Saturday at St Saviour beginning at 11 am.