Guernsey win first tournament in style

Guernsey 219 (Frith 109, Prevost 53, Aamir Waheed 3-35) beat Norway 110 (Barton 51, G Rich 4-22) by 109 runs
Guernsey duly completed a clean sweep, winning their fifth game of the ICC European WCL Division Two Championship by comprehensively beating Norway by 109 runs at KGV. Their total of 219 was dominated by two individual performances – Jeremy Frith scored his second century of the tournament, while skipper Stuart Le Prevost made 53. Frith scored 109 from just 107 balls, striking 13 fours and three sixes, as he shared in a match winning stand of 131 with Le Prevost.

The stand took 140 balls, with Le Prevost’s 53 occupying 77 deliveries. At 186 for 3 with 14 overs remaining, a total of 280 looked on the cards, but a dramatic collapse saw them lose seven wickets for 33 runs.

Aamir Waheed (3 for 35), Shahbaz Butt (3 for 37), and Aram Dawood (2 for 22) were shared the wickets for Norway. But any thoughts that the batting failures could be costly were quickly dispelled as Lee Savident (3 for 8) ripped through the Norwegian top order to leave them reeling at 29 for 4. A fifth wicket stand of 57 between Will Barton (51) and Shahbaz Butt (23) gave Norway some hope, before the spin combination of Gary Rich (4-22) and Jeremy Frith (2-22) saw them dismissed for 110 in 38.1 overs.

It was a much deserved win for Guernsey, who played the most consistent cricket all week.

Israel 222 (Gutman 73) beat Germany 166 (Gutman 4-20) by 56 runs
A fine allround performance from Israeli captain Herschel Gutman has led Israel to their first ever win over Germany as they ended their ICC European Championship Division Two campaign with a 56-run win.

After winning the toss and choosing to bat first, Israel started their innings steadily but then lost wickets, reaching 51 when the danger-man Eshkol Solomon was the fourth wicket down in the 14th over. This brought Herschel Gutman to the crease and he played what was very much a captain’s innings.

He put on 66 for the fifth wicket with Gabriel Schachat and 74 for the sixth wicket with Josh Evans, playing the dominant role in each of those partnerships. Gutman was eventually out for 73 with the score on 194, and the tail put on 28 more runs to help Israel finish on 222, bowled out with one over to spare.

Germany's reply started badly, with the Israeli opening bowlers reducing them to 9 for 3 in 5.4 overs. But the fourth wicket pairing of Andre Leslie and Tarun Rawat recovered the innings, putting on 103 together. Leslie was out having scored 39, and Rawat followed him five overs later having scored 54.

Once those two were gone, the German reply lost its impetus, and the game drifted towards its inevitable conclusion. Gutman finished with 4 for 20 to complete his allround performance and Germany were bowled out for 166 with one ball to spare, Israel winning by 56 runs.

Despite their defeat today, Germany still qualify for Division Eight of the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League by virtue of their win in the head to head match with France. That tournament is due to be played in Kuwait later this year.

France 282 for 6 (Ayyavooraju 90, Malik 81*, Sadhwani 2-54) beat Gibraltar 139 (Farrell 35, Akbar 3-10) by 143 runs
France ended their tournament on a winning note following a thoroughly professional display against Gibraltar at College Field. France’s solid batting performance was highlighted by a brilliant knock from the talented Arun Ayyavooraju (90) and a destructive innings of 81 from the explosive Shahid Malik. Malik’s 81 occupied just 36 balls and contained 6 sixes and 5 fours, as the Gibraltar bowlers wilted in the heat. Arun Ayyavooraju was more circumspect, content to play the anchor role – his innings of 90 took 144 balls and included 8 boundaries.

There were useful cameos from Usman Khan and Waseem Bhatti who both scored 21 in the French total of 282 for 6. The wicket-takers for Gibraltar were Karan Sadhwani (2 for 54), Iain Latin (2 for 62) and Vickram Khatwani (1 for 57).

In reply Gibraltar got off to a decent start with Ian Farrell (35) and Karan Aswani (29) adding 62 for the first wicket. Both were dismissed in quick succession by Shahid Malik (2 for 23), before they pressed the self-destruct button. They suffered no fewer than four run-outs, as the sharp French fielding put them under increasing pressure.

Ali Akbar (3 for 10) wrapped up the tail as Gibraltar were eventually dismissed for 139 despite some late resistance from skipper Christian Rocca (20).

The win gives France six points, but they finish third below Germany by virtue of the fact that they lost their head to head encounter.