Chris Phillips

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After months of hard preparation - twice weekly net practices and fielding work at 5pm and in 30 degree heat - the Gibraltar squad arrived in Dundee, eagerly anticipating the ECC Under 19 2nd Division Championship.

In 2004, our Under 17s came in second place to Israel, however since then the squad had developed immensely with the arrival of 3 new players, myself and Mark Bacarese - who had been too old for the Under 17 tournament - and Ross Harkins. We felt we had a strong, well prepared squad and were hopeful of having a successful tournament yet were taking nothing for granted.

It was good to meet up with old cricketing acquaintances from previous years, especially the Israel guys, whom I had not seen since 2002 in Berlin. However once on the pitch, such friendships are temporarily put to the side!

We opened our tournament against Germany and after winning the toss they elected to bat. We bowled many extras to begin with and had their number 3 batsman dropped in slip - off my bowling! - whilst on 0. This seemed to set the tone for our fielding and bowling efforts, as this guy went on to get 96*, and at the other end, V Airtharan bludgeoned our attack to make 76* of 56 balls. The Germans closed on 260/2 - not the start to the tour we had envisaged!

We had faith in our strong batting line up however, which was vindicated, as despite an early loss, skipper Bacarese and John Hazell set about building a good foundation for the chase, making good scores of 59 and 40 respectively before falling. At 161/4 we had our number 5 (Ferrary) and 7 (Harkins) at the crease. Such was the depth of our batting that these two guys could easily have come in at the top of the order. Needing just over 4 runs an over for about 15 overs, they set about the task calmly and, despite some nervous moments, got us home with 4 and a half overs to spare.

We were elated, but knew that we had to play much better - certainly in the bowling department - if we wanted to win the tournament.

Next up were Italy, at the beautiful Perth North Inch ground. They opted to bat first, and we tasted success almost immediately with Karan Aswani dismissing their skipper in the first over, caught behind. We had to wait till Italy got to 54 to claim our second wicket; yet thereafter wickets continued to tumble. The ball was swinging all over the place as I managed to take 5/29 of my 10 overs thanks to some nice outswing, as the Italians were bundled out for 104.

As is often the case with chasing low totals, there were some very nervy moments as our top order played shots and kept getting out - at one point we were 45/5 ! Nonetheless, our batting depth rescued us again as Karan Aswani in at number 4, saw things home with an unbeaten 43, aided by our number 7 John Hazell who made 18*.

A batting paradise awaited us at Freuchie for our match against Belgium. We were - to our immense surprise - asked to bat first after losing the toss, and made it to 45 before Hazell was dismissed. I then joined Bacarese at the crease and we put on a good partnership of 98 before he fell for a well made 81. Aswani then joined me at the crease and we proceeded to run the Belgian attack ragged, with our first 50runs together being made of 5 overs! Aswani eventually fell for a quickfire 43. I soon followed on 79 and unfortunately our lower middle order this time were unable to keep up the good work and we lost regular wickets up until the end, Mirpuri with 23* however, enabled us to reach the daunting total of 273/8.

When their classy opening bat was run out early on, despite some stubborn resistance from some of their batsmen, mainly A Mehta who scored 74, we managed to take wickets at vital periods to eventually bowl them out for 194. Mirpuri ended up with good figures of 1/27 of 10. 3 down, 2 to go !!

Thursday was a MUCH needed rest day, a combination of the 7am wake ups and long days of hard cricket meant our bodies were feeling extremely drained. We spent the day relaxing, watching some of the Ireland v Scotland game and enjoyed a pub lunch in "The Ferry!"

Back to the action and on Friday we took on France, by all accounts a rather weak side, save Arun, their classy opening bat. We batted first and Ross Harkins (previously at number 7) opened up and took a liking to the French attack, smashing it to all parts. Bacarese was not as fluent however and departed on 11, caught behind. Aswani, in a rich vein of form, went in at 3 to keep the scoring rate high, but when he fell 2nd ball, with Harkins following soon after for a superb 68, we were 90/3 and slightly edgy. Fortunately myself and Kieron Ferrary managed to do a spot of rebuilding with a partnership of 80 before I fell, 9 short of 50. He and John Hazell then went to town on the French attack, the latter smashing 57 of just 44 balls, and Ferrary ending up on 77* ; we closed on 275/5.

We knew that in effect, to get Arun out early would mean game over. In the 1st over of the match, Aswani found the edge of his bat to give our keeper a simple catch - or so we thought. Dropped. When Arun smashed 3 lovely boundaries the following over, you can imagine our feelings.

Fortunately our keeper made amends a few overs later ! With a nice diving catch to dismiss Arun, off Aswani. It had nevertheless been a very classy 34 from him. After Arun went, the French seemed to stop going for the game, seeming content to bat out the overs to enjoy the fine Scottish weather - it was windy and rainy. Fortunately we stuck to our task and eventually bowled them out for 145.

Israel had hammered Belgium on the same day, maintaining their 100% win record. This meant that Saturdays game between us and them was, in effect, the Final !

Israel were without one of their main batsmen Danny Hotz due to religious reasons, but they were still by far the strongest squad we had played against thus far and although confident we told ourselves to make sure we did not relax. We won the toss - finally - and opted to bat first. Bacarese fell early and Harkins followed soon after. Aswani and I, in similar fashion to the Belgium game, decided to play aggressively and pressurise the Israelis. We put on 130 together at a very quick rate before Karan fell for 69. One of us really should have batted through to ensure we got a score of around 300 and so I was very disappointed when I also was dismissed to a poor shot shortly after on 65. With 16 overs left to bat, with the score on 190/3, we should have made 275 with ease. However, for once our middle order did not fire and we collapsed to 234 all out, a good come back by the Israeli's, showing their spirit.

Israel's hopes of chasing a decent total like 234 rested largely on their skipper, Gal Matz. He needed to bat at least 40 overs in order to ensure that they would be able to be in with a very good chance of getting the runs. Coming in 1st wicket down, he faced his second delivery of Aswani. Snick. 1st slip. Dropped. It had happened again and we were in a similar state of disbelief. Gal was still there 10 and 15 overs later as Israel continued on to their target. We were managing to take regular wickets however, and we found ourselves 3 wickets away from victory, with 137 on the board.

Begin to breathe easy with the win so close to us? Not a chance. Israel's tail end refused to give up the fight and a very frustrating 8th wicket partnership ensued, taking Israel up to 171. We then took two quick wickets to leave Israel on 171/9 and everyone clearly relaxed, assuming victory was now a foregone conclusion. Once again however, it was not to prove so with Israel's numbers 9 and 11 taking them into 190s and a position where they needed around 6 an over for 6 overs! Skipper Bacarese then brought himself on to completely remove the pace of the ball making it harder for the tailenders to hit the boundaries. On the 4th ball of the 45th over, Raspoker miscued a big hoik of Bacarese's bowling to send it spinning away to backward point seemingly straight down Peliza's throat. Silence.

Catch Held!!! Pandemonium as we all charged around screaming and hugging each other!! All the hard work by both coach and players, all the nights spent discussing and hoping, had all come to mean something in the end. Undefeated and champions of Europe.