Eurowrap: Czech Pro40 League kicks off with a tie

The Czech Republic’s Pro40 League got under way last weekend – and the first round of matches featured a tie.

At the Scott Page Field in Vinoř Vinohrady were defending a total of 190 for eight, to which Shaun Dalton had contributed 47 and Chris Pearce 50, and with Prague Spartans on 112 for eight they appeared to be heading for a comfortable victory.

But Sagar Reddy thought otherwise, and together with Farooq Abdullah Shaik he added 78 for the ninth wicket to level the scores.

Then opening bowler Kyle Gilham returned to bowl the final over and remove Farooq for 24, and when last man Suhaib Ashraf Wani was run out off the penultimate ball, leaving Reddy on 68 not out, the teams had to be content with sharing the points.

The other matches of the round were more straightforward.

At Vinoř on Sunday Prague CC recovered from 73 for four to post 243 for eight, thanks to a fifth-wicket stand of 118 between Sudesh Wickremasinghe (90 from 68 deliveries) and Arun Ashokan (49), and then skittled Prague Barbarians for 85, Ali Hassan Sittar having the notable figures of 6 – 3 – 7 – 5.

And in Brno on Saturday the home side made 198 for nine against Prague Bohemians, Naveed Ahmed top-scoring with 44, and dismissed the Bohemians for 110; Raghavendra Singh took four for 38 for Brno and Kashif Ali four for 31.


KB and Svanholm creep closer to Skanderborg

With Skanderborg not involved over the weekend their rivals in Denmark’s Elite Division, KB and Svanholm, took the opportunity to move closer to the leaders, and both are now just two points behind with a game in hand.

KB posted the most comprehensive win of the season, dismissing Herning for 49 and taking only 23 deliveries to complete a 10-wicket victory; Mark Hocking (four for 24) and Bashir Khan (four for 2 from 2.1 overs) did most of the damage when Herning batted, while Saif Ahmad’s 14-ball 31 not out completed the demolition.

It was hapless Herning’s second defeat of the weekend, since they had been beaten by Ishøj by seven wickets on Saturday.

In a match cut to 40 overs a side, Herning reached 146 for seven thanks to Surya Anand’s knock of 55, but Ishøj cruised to the win in 22.1 overs, Jawad Ahmad (35) and Salar Khan (45) kicking off with an opening stand of 67 and Adeel Akhtar seeing them home with 33 not out.

Svanholm set themselves on course for a home win over Soraner by bowling their visitors out for 112, Toqeer Ahmad taking three for 22 and Saud Munir three for 14, and with Jonas and Mads Henriksen making 33 not out and 32 respectively they won by six wickets with 17.3 overs to spare.

Having disposed of Herning on Saturday Ishøj completed the double on Sunday, beating bottom side Albertslund in the highest-scoring match of the weekend.

Batting first, Albertslund compiled 171 all out, largely due to Raja Ali’s 51-ball 56 and Jafar Butt’s 32; Pawan Kumar claimed three for 30 for Ishøj and Absar Khan four for 31.

Although Salar Khan began aggressively when Ishøj replied, his side were in some difficulty at 43 for three before Delawar Khan joined the opener in a fourth-wicket stand of 80, and after Salar departed for 79, the last of Yasir Ayub’s three wicket at a cost of 34 runs, Delawar saw the visitors home to a four-wicket victory, finishing with 56 not out.


St Ouen Springfield win a thriller in Jersey

Saturday’s Premier League match in Jersey between Farmers Caesareans and Old Victorians was abandoned without a ball being bowled, but on Sunday St Ouen Springfield proved just too strong for the Under-19s in a thrilling finish at Les Quennevais.

47 from Ollie Nightingale and an unbeaten 52 from Tony Kay enabled the Saints to reach 190 for six, and Asa Tribe’s 89 brought the youngster’s agonizingly close.

But he fell to Toby Clark in the final over, and St Ouen Springfield squeezed home by just four runs.


Peel maintain their challenge in the Isle of Man

Like Skanderborg in Denmark, leaders Crosby had a week off in the Manx Premiership, and their nearest rivals Peel made the most of their opportunity with an 86-run victory over Finch Hill at Ballafletcher Sports Ground.

Eddie Beard with 70 and Phil Littlejohns with 65 formed the basis of Peel’s total of 254, the pair sharing a fourth-wicket partnership worth 90, and despite Christian Webster’s 56 Finch Hill could only manage 168 in reply, Akkie Van Den Berg taking five for 32 and Brendan Bennett three for 36.

Castletown had the better of their mid-table encounter with Valkyres at King William College, recovering from 78 for five to chase down their opponents’ 167 for eight to win by three wickets with 4.1 overs to spare, thanks to Cameron Room’s 46 and Olly Wait’s 47 not out.

Bottom of the table Ramsey pulled off a narrow victory – only their second of the season – against Cronkbourne, their total of 156 just sufficient to win by eight runs, Tom Moffatt, Ryan Hogan and Brandon Aitchison collecting three wickets apiece.


Austria Wien still unbeaten

Austria Wien maintained their unbeaten record with two wins in a double-header in the Austrian Premier T20 League on Saturday, beating Vienna CC by seven wickets in the first game and then just squeezing home against United Nations in the second.

Mark Simpson-Parker’s 61 (made before he was forced to retire hurt) took Vienna to a solid 132 for four, but Lakmal Kasthuriarachige hit 64 from 28 deliveries in an opening stand of 82 with Navin Wijesekera, and Austria knocked off the runs in 13.2 overs, Wikesekera finishing with 42 not out.

Chasing the United Nations’ 127 for nine in the second match, Austria collapsed to 44 for five, and it took an unbeaten 60 from Vinoth Ravindran, supported by 32 from keeper Rayhaan Muhammad Ahamed, to enable them to pull off the win from the penultimate delivery with the last pair together.

The Austrian Cricket Tigers held onto their position at the top of the table with a 43-run victory over Lord’s CC, Muhammad Shahbaz taking four for 10 as Lord’s were dismissed for 81 in reply to the Tigers’ 124 for eight.


Sentrum A enjoy a weekend double in Oslo

In the Oslo T20 League in Norway Sentrum A moved clear at the top of Group B with wins over previously-unbeaten Klemetsrud on Saturday and Fjord A the following day.

Chasing Klemetsrud’s imposing 172 for eight, Sentrum reached their target with three wickets in hand and three deliveries to spare, thanks to a 30-ball 70 from Faisal Raza which included seven sixes, and then defended 166 for eight against Fjord, Tafseer Ali making 85 from 43 deliveries, and restricted their opponents to 128 for eight.

In Group C Vestli B and MASK A both sit on six wins out of six after victories over MASK C and Nord B respectively, while in Group A Bjørvika slipped up against Nation A and are now two points behind Sinsen A, who registered a 49-run victory over United.

MASK B stayed top of Group D, restricting Alna to 78 for seven and knocking off the runs in just 13 overs, but Nittedal stayed one win behind them with a 4-wicket victory over Fjord C.