THE more fancied sides ruled in an excellent opening day of World Cricket League action in Jersey on Friday.
There were few surprises with the home side’s Division V Group B victory over Singapore at Grainville being matched by Afghanistan and Botswana.
In Group A, Nepal, regarded in many quarters as one of the favourites along with Afghanistan, fired out a warning to the European teams with a seven-wicket win over Germany at Les Quennevais, with Norway and and the USA also having clear victories.
Germany, third behind Norway and Jersey in the the European Championships Division II last year to qualify for this event, struggled to 69 all out off 39.5 overs, with Mahaboob Alam taking 3-24 in his ten over spell, while 25-year-old spinner Sanjam Regmi claimed fantastic figures of 3-4.
Nepal easily passed the target, while at the FB Fields Norway hit the biggest score of the day, 360 for 3, against Vanuatu, with captain Syed Ahmed hitting 133, easily the best individual figure of day one. Vanuatu fell 183 runs short though Andrew Mansale hit a solid 41, with Shahid Ahmed taking 3 for 11.
The USA returned to ICC action in style, with a nine-wicket win over Mozambique at the Farmers Field in St Martin, after the latter set a target of 148 for 7. Sushil Nadkarni top scored with 70 as the USA took under 28 overs to reach the target.
In Group B Afghanistan beat Japan by 93 runs at College Field, despite being dismissed in 35.4 overs. But Japan got nowhere near Afghanistan’s 179, with their reply of 86 being the second lowest total of the day.
Back at Les Quennevais, Botswana beat Bahamas by 70 runs after setting a target of 205 all out. Bahamas lasted only 36 overs in reaching 135.
Saturday’s matches are - Group A: USA v Norway (College Field); Nepal v Mozabique; Germany v Vanuatu (Farmers Field). Group B: Jersey v Japan (Les Q2); Afghanistan v Bahamas (Les Q1); Singapore v Botswana (FB). All 11 am starts.
Article posted on 24th May, 2008 - 9.59am
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