Victory in final game but feeling of disappointment remains

Israel ended their European T20 Championships with a victory, defeating Croatia by 86 runs in Jersey this morning, but the game had little relevance with Saturday's 43-run defeat to Gibraltar having already condemned Israel to relegation from the top tier of European cricket. The win does mean Israel at least avoided the wooden spoon, finishing the 12-nation tournament, won by Denmark, in 11th place, with a disappointing record of just one win in seven games.

Against a Croatian team which had also failed to win a game thus far in the tournament, despite an encouraging start in which they almost pulled off a sensational win over eventual finalists Italy, Israel captain Herschel Gutman (51) led the way for Israel a good half century having chosen to bat first. The second wicket partnership of 71 between Gutman and Josh Evans (21) set the innings up perfectly, and the middle order cashed in well, with Eshkol Solomon (16 off 14 balls), Danny Hotz (26 off 16 balls), Yaniv Razpurker (18 off 11 balls) and Shailesh Bangerra (19 off 7 balls) all making contributions allowing Israel to score 172 for six in their twenty overs, easily their highest total in the tournament. Eliezer Samson then returned excellent bowling figures of four for 11 as the Croatians were dismissed for just 86, giving Israel the most comfortable of wins, their first in T20 internationals.