On a day when Jersey won the ICC World Cricket League Division 5 title with an easy win over Vanuatu, Qatar won a thrilling encounter over Italy to grab third place.
The two finalists had already secured promotion to Division 4, with an eye on a spot in the 2023 World Cup, but yesterday, at Kingsmead Oval in South Africa, Ben Stevens ensured Jersey had the momentum starring in the 120-run win.
Vanuatu won the toss and elected to field first, but riding on an 86-run knock by Stevens, Jersey set a target of 256. In reply, Vanuatu were wrapped up for a mere 135, with Stevens’ left-arm spin instrumental in causing damage.
With three wickets in the kitty, apart from the batting knock, Stevens was adjudged Man of the Match.
In Benoni, Qatar avenged their six-wicket group stages loss to Italy with a thrilling win.
A 46-ball 54 by Tamoor Sajjad and valuable batting performances by Kamran Khan, captain Inam-ul-Haq and Mohamed Tanveer, ensured that Qatar overhauled Italy’s 225-run total with 2.1 overs to spare.
Opener Gian Meade was solid up the order after Italy elected to bat first. His 105-ball 62 was the stand out effort in the Italian top order before Joy Perera and Carl Sandri added 44 and 34 respectively as Qatar bowlers, led by Iqbal Hussain, restricted them for 225 for 7.
Hussain took three wickets for 51 runs, while Mohamed Nadeem scalped two, and Sajjad and Awais Malik took a wicket each.
In reply, opener Qalandar Khan was sent back early in the Qatar innings but a string of partnerships, including a 52-run stand between Inam-ul-Haq (37 runs, 3 fours) and Kamran Khan (43 runs, 1 four, 4 sixes) steadied the ship.
By the time Sajjad was sent back in the 30th over, Qatar were at 147 for 4, but Tanveer (35 runs, 1 four) did well to combine with Mohamed Rizlan (28 runs, 3 fours).
Imran Ashraf hit a boundary in the 48th over to seal the third place for Qatar.
Qatar skipper Inam-ul-Haq said, “Staying in Division 5 is great for the Qatar team, the guys have done very well today.”
Italy skipper Munasinghe said: “I was really disappointed with the result, we had a good start, but unfortunately we didn’t make the important games.”
Riding on an unbeaten 123 from Venkatraman Ganesan, Germany beat Guernsey by four wickets, chasing down the 270 run target with 4.4 overs to spare.
Ghana picked up a six-wicket victory in the seventh place playoff chasing down the 137-run target set by Cayman Islands in the 20th over.
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