The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Europe Sub Regional Qualifier C, played at the cricket grounds of Kerava and Tikkurila, Vantaa, came to an end last Friday. Portugal won the tournament and will continue their quest for a place at the World Cup in the Europe qualifier
Finland, meanwhile, finished as the fourth-best team in the tournament after losing to Germany in the third-place play-off. Isle of Man took the fifth place, and Czechia finished seventh.
Third-place play-off: Finland – Germany
Finland progressed to the third-place play-off after finishing ahead of the Isle of Man in the group stage thanks to their higher net run rate. Germany progressed to the third-place play-off from the tournament’s other group.
Germany won the toss and chose to bat first. The start did not go entirely to plan for Finland, as the home side dropped a catch on the very first delivery of the match and made several errors in the field. Germany also racked up runs at a commendable pace during the first few overs.
However, Finland improved their performance after a weak start and managed to pick up several wickets in quick succession, which also slowed down the Germans’ scoring rate. Piumal Karunarathna, in particular, impressed with his bowling skills, varying the pace of his deliveries to unsettle the German batsmen. He took a total of four wickets. Junaid Khan, Nicholas Salonen and captain Amjad Sher provided support for Karunarathna with their pace bowling.
The Germans still managed to score 144 runs, thanks to the performances of Ben Kohler-Cadmore and Fayaz Khan, both of whom scored 51 runs. The target set by the Germans was not enormous, but it was still competitive.
In the second half of the match, the Germans dominated right from the start and never let up. Finland never managed to get going with the bat and were under constant pressure right until the end of their innings. The Bears managed a mere 76 runs before losing 10 wickets.
Germany needed to use only four bowlers, all of whom took wickets. Of them, Muslim Yar took the most wickets, dismissing four Finnish batsmen. Prateek Dabholkar also impressed, bowling exceptionally economically by conceding only 11 runs in four overs and taking one wicket.
Germany secured third place in the tournament, whilst Finland had to settle for the fourth place.
Result: Germany 144/7 (20) – Finland 76/10 (15.4), Germany won by 68 runs
Player of the match: Fayaz Khan
Final: Spain – Portugal
The final of the sub-regional qualifying tournament saw an Iberian derby, in which Portugal got the better of their neighbours.
Spain had won the toss and elected to bowl. Despite this, Portugal’s batsmen managed to get off to a strong start, led by Dhavalkumar Norotam and Christopher De Freitas.
After the pair were dismissed, Portugal’s run rate dropped significantly. Spain’s spinners, who have been outstanding throughout the qualifiers, posed the greatest challenge to the Portuguese batsmen. The Portuguese found it difficult to score runs quickly, and the Spanish spinners regularly dismissed their opponents. Spain’s Yasir Ali was the most successful, taking two wickets and conceding just 24 runs.
Having struggled against the spin bowlers, the Portuguese batsmen Carlos Nunes and Jeremy Martins successfully attacked the fast bowlers. They smashed crucial boundaries, which helped them finish Portugal’s innings. Portugal’s innings ultimately yielded a challenging total of 160 runs.
The second half of the final got off to a disastrous start for Spain, as they lost their first batsman on the very first delivery. Another Spanish batter was also dismissed in the next over, which put the Spanish side on the back foot. Sebastian De Oliveira and Jeremy Martins provided the Portuguese a dream start.
Yasir Ali and Daniel Doyle-Calle batted cautiously and tried to breathe new life into Spain’s innings, but to no avail. The reason was the excellent partnership between the Portuguese spin bowlers, Siraj Ullah Khadem and Edward Fleming, which completely stifled Spain’s progress. Khadem took two wickets for 19 runs and Fleming three for a meagre 13 runs.
Spain were eventually bowled out for 103 runs and Portugal won the final by 57 runs. The defeat also brought an end to Spain’s historic 24-match winning streak. Thanks to this victory, Portugal progressed to the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Europe Qualifier, where they will join Jersey, Denmark and Scotland.
Result: Portugal 160/6 (20) – Spain 103/10 (17.1), Portugal won by 57 runs
Player of the Match: Edward Fleming
Player of the Tournament: Sebastian De Oliveira
Author
– Safi Khan
