Italy and Germany both recorded wins as the European qualifier for next year's men's T20 World Cup resumed today in Edinburgh.
It was a windy and overcast morning at Goldenacre, so it wasn’t a surprise when Chuggy Perchard didn’t hesitate to choose to bowl first after winning the toss. But there was no immediate breakthrough for the Jersey bowling attack as Ben Manenti and Justin Mosca put on 72.
The introduction of leg-spinner Ben Ward in the ninth over finally found the breakthrough as he removed both openers in the same over, bowling Manenti for 22 and having Mosca caught for 49, just short of a maiden T20I half-century.
Wayne Madsen and Anthony Mosca then added 35 before the latter was brilliantly caught by Nick Greenwood running in from the long-on boundary. Perchard then got the dangerous Grant Stewart to chop on to his stumps from his first ball before Marcus Campopiano kept out the hat-trick ball.
The experienced Wayne Madsen, on debut for Italy, was still in though and he scored 52 from 30 balls before being caught by Jonty Jenner on the deep mid-wicket boundary, the third wicket for Ben Ward.
Marcus Campopiano hit three consecutive sixes in the final over before holing out to Nick Greenwood at long-on from the penultimate delivery having scored 44 from 22 balls. Two runs came from the final ball to take Italy to 183-8.
Jersey sent Julius Sumerauer up the order to try and get some quick runs, but the experiment didn’t pay off as he was out in the second over having scored nine. A third wicket partnership of 54 between Nick Greenwood and Asa Tribe provided a platform for Jersey, and they were 86-3 after Greenwood fell for 32 in the 11th over.
Tribe fell in the next over for 24, before Ben Ward and Jonty Jenner added 37 for the fifth wicket, the partnership ending when Ward was caught at long-on by Harry Manenti. Italy carried on taking wickets at crucial moments including a spectacular grab by Wayne Madsen to dismiss Charlie Brennan, diving to his right at backward point and taking the ball just inches off the ground.
The final score for Jersey was 158, a 25 run defeat. Grant Stewart finished them off with two wickets in two balls to finish with 3-29. Captain/coach Gareth Berg also had three wickets, going for 26 runs.
The day had brightened up considerably for the start of the afternoon session as Germany won the toss and chose to bowl first. They made an immediate breakthrough with Dieter Klein trapping Nicolaj Damgaard for what goes on the scorecard as a golden duck, though he’d faced a wide first up before bowling Abdul Hasmi later the same over.
Taranjit Singh and Saif Ahmad set about recovering the innings with a partnership of 78 that ended shortly after a lengthy interruption following a collision in the field between Muslim Yar Ashraf and Dyland Blignaut. Ahmad was the man dismissed, caught at long-on having scored 40 from 38 balls.
Singh’s innings of 43 ended ten balls later after he chopped a rather innocuous delivery from Vishnu Bharathi onto his stumps. With two fresh batters at the crease, Germany began to throttle the run scoring, and in the 17th over Muslim Yar Ashraf took two wickets, both catches as Denmark tried to break the stranglehold.
Two more wickets came in the 19th over, followed by one more in the final over and Denmark had scored 124-9, after being 82-2 at one point. Four German bowlers each took two wickets.
After losing skipper Venkatraman Ganesan early on in their reply, the German pair of Joshua van Heerden and Michael Richardson put on 57 for the second wicket before Richardson was bowled by Abdullah Mahmood having scored 27.
Van Heerden batted on and reached 42 from 33 balls before he was caught on the boundary by Saif Ahmad with the score on 84-3. There was no Danish style collapse though as Faisal Bin Mubashir and Sahir Naqash added 25 before the latter was bowled by Mahmood.
There were no more wickets for the German side as they completed a six wicket win with Dylan Blignaut hitting the winning runs in style with a six over deep-midwicket.
Denmark don't have long to mull over their defeat as they are in action in the morning session tomorrow at Goldenacre, taking on Austria. Hosts Scotland play Italy at the Grange in the morning, whilst Jersey will face off against Ireland in the afternoon match at Goldenacre. Germany's next match is on Tuesday when they play Jersey.