Day 6 of the ICC Challenge League B saw Africa sweep Europe with Kenya chasing down a sub par Jersey total and Uganda making four out of four beating Italy not without some difficulty.
Kenya 239 for 3 (Rakep Patel 101*, Rushab Patel 99*, Sumeraurer 2-34) defeated Jersey 233 for 5 (Bisson 58, Carlyon 48, Blampied 43, Ngoche 3-24) by 7 wickets with 22 deliveries remaining.
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On ground 1 Jersey skipper Charles Perchard won the toss and elected to bat. All channel batsmen got starts but ended up getting out when it was time to accelerate leaving it to 6th wicket pair of Blampied (43 off 46 balls) and Bisson (58 off 44) to provide some late impetus to the innings. Chasing 234, Kenya were in a spot of bother at 44/3 after 11 overs before the Patels took charge with an unbeaten partnership of 190, easing home with 22 balls to spare.
Uganda 281 (Ukani 78, Patel 52, Berg 4-25, Smith 4-44) defeated Italy 180 (46.4 overs, Meade 43, Ross 32, Hassun 5-27, Nakrani 3-38) by 41 runs.
Joy Perera, Italy’s captain, won his fourth consecutive toss and, as in the previous three occasions, put the opposition in. The decision seemed to pay off with Uganda bowled out for 218 in 48. 3 overs, Gareth Berg and Nikolai Smith both finishing with four wickets each.
The Africans were heavenly indebted to the old firm of Shahzad Ukani (78 off 88 balls) and Ronak Patel (52 off 73) whose third wicket partnership of 120 gave the innings the required stability. Italy never really got going. Until top scorer Giampiero Meade (43 off 94) was in, there was the hope that someone could help him construct a serious challenge. After he went in the direction 29th over, leaving the Azzurri 96/5, the innings gradually declined in the face of Bilal Hassun’s hostile 5/27 with Italy all out for 180 after 46.4 overs.
