Four Nations Tournament (19 Nov 1999)

19 November 1999

Four Nations Tournament

French national team captain, Simon Hewitt, is adamant Mathieu Royant, will be France's first First Class cricketer.

For the near future however, the 12-year-old will be remembered as the centre of a dispute which saw a match forfeited in September's Four Nations tournament in Gibraltar.

France wished to include the wicket-keeper-batsman in its team for its second match against Israel. The local organising committee feared injury to the player, while France Cricket officials felt the committee had prior knowledge of Royant's inclusion in the French squad and had not objected.

Information for these match reports were provided by Tom Finlayson and Dr. Simone Gambino.

"The opening matches were played on Wednesday, September 22 with Gibraltar taking on France at the Victoria Stadium and Israel facing Italy at the Europa Ground.

French skipper Simon Hewitt won the toss and elected to bat first. It was given a solid start by Paul Wakefield and Jean-Francois Defez, who put on 44 runs before being parted.

The first French wicket was claimed by Roy Rodgers, who bowled Defez for 25. Ten runs later Steve Carey bowled Sujeeva Mahavidange with his first ball.

When Chris Watkins had Wakefield caught by Christian Rocca for 31 and bowled Nigel Jones, the Frenchmen were in a pivotal position at 107-4.

Hewitt and Gareth Edwards stabilised the situation with a fifth wicket partnership of 47 before the French skipper was caught and bowled by Gary De'Ath for 42. This was start of a middle order collapse with three wickets at one stage falling for one run.

France was eventually dismissed for 181 in 48.4 overs. For Gibraltar, Watkins bowled tidily to concede only 23 runs off his 10 overs, as well as taking two wickets. De'Ath snared 3-24 and Rodgers 2-45.

Richard Buzaglo and Mark Lafferty put on 29 runs before the latter was bowled by Mahavidange, after which Christian Rocca helped Buzaglo push the total along to 86. Gibraltar looked comfortable at this stage, before Rocca hit Peter Bazile straight to Hewitt.

This proved pivotal as Watkins became Bazile's second victim and Danny Johnson was adjudged leg before without scoring.

Gibraltar had suddenly slumped to 97-4. However, Buzaglo was looking increasingly dangerous, and together with Gary De'Ath, scored the required 85 runs for victory. Buzaglo (93 n.o.) and De'Ath (45 n.o.) led Gibraltar home with six wickets and 11.1 overs to spare.

At Europa, Israel proved no match for the Italians as they batted first and slumped to 98 all-out in just 35.2 overs. Things could have been much worse but for a 53 run third wicket partnership between Jaiswar Mahendra (40) and Isaac Massil (24).

Joe Scuderi, the Azzurri's professional player, who had just signed a two year contract with Lancashire, was devastating with the ball.

The former Sheffield Shield player claimed four Israeli scalps at a personal cost of six runs, while he received good support from Shah, who took 3-26.

Italy required only 15 overs to pass the total for the loss of three wickets. Benito Giordano (45) and Andrea Corbellari (22 n.o.) saw them home comfortably.

Matches scheduled for the Thursday were Gibraltar versus Italy at the Stadium and Israel to meet France at Europa. This day of the tournament became known for what didn't happen as France forfeited to Israel due to the Royant situation.

At the stadium, Joe Scuderi proved to be the main difference in two otherwise evenly balanced sides. He and Ricardo Maggio put on 39 runs for the opening wicket of which the latter contributed two runs! Italy lost a further wicket with the total on 57, after which Scuderi and Andrea Corbellari took complete control, adding 135 for the third wicket. Roy Rodgers then snared Corbellari's wicket for 68.

The Azzurri lost two wickets for the addition of just one run, with Scuderi finally departing, caught by Rex Purnell off the bowling of Danny Johnson for 123. However there was to be little relief for the Gibraltar attack as Shah hit a quick-fire undefeated 42 to push the Italian total to a daunting 274-7 off its allotted 50 overs.

Rodgers again claimed two victims, as did Danny Johnson. However, the most impressive bowling came from newcomer Purnell, who only conceded 34 runs during his 10 overs, claiming one wicket in the process.

Gibraltar's Richard Buzaglo could not follow up his excellent form of the previous day and succumbed early in the innings. Mark Lafferty and Danny Johnson then put on 35 runs for the second wicket before the former was brilliantly run out by guess who, yes Scuderi.

When Chris Watkins was also run out for 0, Gibraltar faced a stern test of its resolve.

Johnson and Rocca hung in grimly, adding a further 66 for the fourth wicket, with Johnson reaching his half-century in the process. However, he departed immediately afterwards and despite valiant efforts from Rocca (42) and Rex Purnell (23), Gibraltar fell well short of their target, being all-out for 164 in 47.4 overs.

Corbellari returned figures of 2-15, Edmondo Ciappina took 2-27 and Christian Pippo 2-5 for the Italians. Part of the afternoon's play was watched by His Excellency, the Governor, Sir Richard Luce.

France's returned to the field on Friday causing a major shock by accounting for the much fancied Italian side.

The Azzurri batted first and, despite 96 from Joe Scuderi, could not emulate its previous day's mammoth total. However, Andrea Corbellari scored 31 and double-figure efforts from later order batsmen enabled Italy to total 218 in 47.2 overs. For the French, Peter Linton snared 3-34 while Simon Hewitt took 2-27.

France lost the early wicket of Gareth Edwards before Paul Wakefield and David Bordes added 85 runs of the second wicket. When Bordes departed for 35, Hewitt took on his mantle and helped Wakefield put on a further 69 runs to set the Frenchmen well on the way to victory.

Wakefield was eventually stumped for 61 but Hewitt went on to make 35 and Nigel Jones contributed an undefeated 39 to bring victory in 47.2 overs. Scuderi was less successful with the ball this time, returning figures of 2-41.

The match at Europa between Gibraltar and Israel was a real cracker.

Israel batted first and after the loss of an early wicket, Yefet Nagavkar and Hilel Awaskar put on 65 runs for the second wicket.

Both then departed for in rapid succession for 33 and 28 respectively, after which Isaac Massil and Adrian Ward maintained their momentum with a fourth wicket partnership of 52. Massil was then caught by Danny Johnson off the bowling of Gary De'Ath for 42.

Wickets tumbled after that as Israel slumped to 179-7, but the tail wagged in the shape of Jackie Divekar, whose undefeated 27 enabled his side to reach a more respectable 226-9. Roy Rodgers took 2-51 and Gareth Balban 2-44, while Rex Purnell was once again very economical, conceding just 23 runs in his 10 overs and again taking a wicket.

The Gibraltar innings began disastrously, losing two wickets early, including the important one of Richard Buzaglo, with only 11 runs on the board. Danny Johnson and Chris Watkins then came to Gibraltar's rescue with a century partnership before Watkins was adjudged leg before with the total on the dreaded 111.

The game then once again swung Israel's way, as Johnson also fell leg before when three short of his 50 and Purnell was bowled for 0. Christian Rocca, meanwhile, proceeded to a well deserved 50 before he too was dismissed leg before.

It was then left to Gary De'Ath (39 not out) and Stephen Shepherd (10 not out) to steer Gibraltar to an exciting victory with only three balls to spare.

It had been a wonderful day's cricket between the two old rivals and the beautiful weather added to the occasion.

The Play-offs

What had built to an exciting finals day with play-offs for first and third places was marred with Saturday, October 25 featuring steady early morning rain which continued until lunch-time.

The players at both venues took an early lunch and thankfully the rain stopped soon afterwards.

The third and fourth place play-off between France and Israel finally commenced at the Victoria Stadium at 2.30pm with the match reduced to 31 overs per side.

On a still damp pitch, Israel made a terrible start, losing six wickets with only 15 runs on the board. David Massil and Jackie Divekar then did what they could to rescue the innings from total ruin, adding 30 runs for the seventh wicket before the former was bowled by Peter Bazile for 11.

The eighth wicket fell with the wicket on 53 after which Akiva Shimshon helped Divekar add a further 33 runs for the ninth wicket. Israel was eventually dismissed for 87 in 29.4 overs. Peter Linton (3-12) , Sujeeva Mahavidange (3-13) and Serge Conein (2-16) were Israel's destroyers.

France lost its first wicket before a run had been scored, but a 40 run second wicket partnership between Paul Wakefield (23) and David Bordes (13) virtually assured its team of victory.

Although Israel managed three more wickets, France still cantered home with 10 overs to spare.

The 'final' of the Four Nations tournament between Gibraltar and Italy began an hour later at 3.30pm, with the match reduced to 24 overs per side.

Gibraltar's skipper, Christian Rocca, won the toss for the first time in the tournament, chose to occupy the crease first and lost the wicket of Gary De'Ath in the opening over.

Things improved for Gibraltar as Richard Buzaglo (27) and Rex Purnell (34) put on 52 for the second wicket. Disaster struck as four wickets were last for four runs.

Purnell had survived the debacle and he was now joined by young Gareth Balban. These two pushed the total close to the three figure mark before Balban was run out for 16 and Purnell fell in the chase for quick runs.

Gibraltar reached 113-9 in its allotted 24 overs, perhaps 15-20 runs short of what was desired.

The home team's hopes soared early when first Benito Giordano and then the star wicket of Joe Scuderi fell to Roy Rodgers with 11 runs on the board.

When Italy had crashed to 71-6, an upset looked distinctly possible.

Edmondo Ciappina then steered the Azzuri close to victory with 29, but the winning run only came off the third ball of the final over, with Italy winning with 114-7 off 23.2 overs.

It was a fitting climax to an excellent tournament.

All players, officials and helpers were treated to a Gala dinner in the evening and everyone went home happy with the organisation of the event as well as typical Gibraltarian hospitality show to all.