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A young and somewhat inexperienced Isle of Man senior squad recently returned from their first venture in international cricket  after competing in the Notts Sports ECC European Affiliates Championships in Belgium. The squad were particularly unlucky when a re-draw following Switzerland's late withdrawal saw them drawn in a group of 3 with previous winners Portugal and one of the tournament favourites Greece. This left the squad needing to win one of these two games to make the Super Sixes and guarantee a top six finish or be left in a relegation dogfight with two other countries.

Playing Greece at Mechelen in their first ever International proved a daunting and nervous prospect especially as Greece had amongst their bowlers, Nikitaras, previously more used to bowling against Ricky Ponting and Andrew Symonds in the Sheffield Shield. Having been put in to bat the nerves were evident as early wickets tumbled. Connor Byrne batted well for 20 but the unfortunate run-out of Keith Brew and a middle order collapse against Nikitaras and Koutsoufis left skipper Rob Webber fighting a lone battle. He was eventually out for 29 as the Isle of Man were dismissed for 106. In reply Gareth Morris and Neil Holmes both struck early but Aussie all-rounder Koutsoufis showed his class with 43 not out and supported by Manousis with 46 not out they steered Greece to an eight wicket victory.

Despite this defeat the squad went into the match against Portugal at Royal Brussels the following day in good spirit and determined to win. Duncan Miller was given a debut replacing Graham Webb. Again the toss was lost and the Island were asked to bat first. In the third over Rob Webber was "given out" although the ball clearly brushed his shirt sleeve and then Pete Richards was out to leave the score at 2 for 2. Gareth Morris joined Christian Steriopulos and the two put together a partnership of 41 before Morris was bowled by Mehdi. Christian, who had been batting with a badly dislocated toe, soon followed at 43-4. Connor Byrne joined Graeme Garrett and they added 56 before Connor fell to Tariq Aziz. Graeme continued to bat well and Keith Brew made an aggressive 36 in a partnership of 64 before being brilliantly caught by Rankine diving on the boundary. Graeme finished unbeaten on 51, the first international half-century for the Island, in a reasonable score of 164-6.

Portugal were soon in trouble as Gareth Morris and Neil Holmes bowled superbly, Gareth removing both Rankine and Mehdi, while Neil accounted for Saiyad. Connor Byrne then came on and gave a great display of swing bowling to take 2 for 28 off 10 overs, and with Keith Brew removing Butt and Buccimazza, Portugal were in deep trouble at 121-7. However, Rizwan Khaliq proved to be the saviour for Portugal with 46 not out, aided by Shahzad, 16 not out, and they got home in the 47th over.

It may all have been different if a straightforward chance off Khaliq had been held with the score on 140, but it was a much improved performance by the Island side.

Due to the abandonment of the Malta-Finland game the Isle of Man were denied their rest day and had to go to Royal Antwerp to play Croatia instead. The Croatian team, boasting a number of Aussie Grade cricketers won the toss and batted. The Vujnovich brothers Paul and John got them off to a good start with a partnership of 54 before Ollie Webster's short ball was edged behind by John. This brought in Chris Pivac, who was to average 130 in the tournament. He and Paul took the score to 142 before Pivac was brilliantly run-out by Ollie Webster's direct hit with one stump to aim at. Connor Byrne then had Vujnovich caught by debutant Juan Corlett at 156-3. Superb bowling and fielding restricted Croatia in the final 10 overs and they closed at 190-7, with Connor Byrne taking 3-38 and Keith Brew 2-37.

The Isle of Man innings again started badly with Rob Webber (1) and Pete Richards (5) going early. Gareth Morris and a patient Ollie Webster rebuilt the innings and took the score to 60 before a tragic mix-up saw Ollie run-out for 14.Another wicket fell before Morris and Graeme Garrett took the score to 97 when Gareth was caught for an excellent 45, and Keith Brew went next ball to leave the score on 97-6. Graeme Garrett went on to make 38 but only Adam Peel, 17 not out, was able to make any impression as the Island were all out for 151 to lose by 39 runs with  almost 7 over still in hand. A hard lesson had been learnt.

Because of re-scheduling the Island team now had to play four days in a row and Wednesday saw them at the Antwerp Indians ground to face Finland. In one of the finest displays of bowling and fielding for a long time Finland were dismissed for just 79. Once again the opening duo of Neil Holmes (4-30) and Gareth Morris (2-19) were magnificent and Connor Byrne took 3-6 off 6 overs and 3 catches including one absolute stunner.

It seemed the Isle of Man's first win at this level was inevitable but the jinx struck as Rob Webber suffered another bad decision in the first over, the Finnish wicketkeeper later confirming he had missed the ball by at least 4 inches! Morris, Byrne and Webster all followed cheaply and the Island were 14-4. It seemed a demoralising defeat was on the cards when the ever dependable Graeme Garrett missed a full toss and the Isle of Man were 19-5. However, cometh the hour, cometh the man, and after lunch Keith Brew and Pete Richards resumed, determined not to let the match go. Mixing solid defence and patience with the ability to recognise the bad ball and despatch it they set about winning the game. A huge Richards six over mid-wicket quickly followed by a couple of boundaries seemed to demoralise Finland and the pair took the score to 77 before Richards was out lbw for 24. Although a nervous mix-up saw Adam Peel run-out, Keith Brew, 26 not out, hit the winning run to the delight of the IOM skipper and the rest of his squad as the first victory was celebrated.

Thursday was the rest day and turned out to be a glorious sunny day but on Friday the rain returned at Mechelen which meant the Island were denied the chance to play Croatia again and had to settle for one point each. This was ultimately to prove decisive.

Saturday brought the return game against Finland at Mechelen and again rain came reducing the game to 32 overs per side. Finland won the toss and decided to bat again. Surely, the Island couldn't produce yet another brilliant display in the field? Yet again the answer was yes as superb bowling again from the heroic trio of Morris, Holmes and Byrne reduced them to 50-4 at the drinks break. First ball after the break Peter Richards dived to his right at cover to catch Finland opener Jonathan October who had been looking in excellent form. Finland never really recovered and Rob Webber pulled off 3 brilliant stumpings off the bowling of Ollie Webster (3-24), while Neil Holmes (1-21), Gareth Morris (2-14) and Connor Byrne (3-14) did the rest of the damage.

This time the Island were in no mood to be put under pressure chasing as Rob Webber sent in Gareth Morris and Connor Byrne to open. They responded in style cracking 49 off the first 8 overs before Morris was caught on the long-on boundary for 22. Connor was joined by Rob Webber and they continued to attack before Connor was out for 35 with the score 85. Rob hit 2 sixes in his 18 not out and Graeme Garrett ( 16 not out ) finished the game off with another 6 as the Island romped home by 8 wickets to record a fine victory, all the more so as Finland chased down a score of 250 on the Sunday to defeat Croatia.This meant the Island lost out on 7th place to Croatia on run-rate.

This was a successful and immensely enjoyable tour with a lot being learnt about playing under pressure in an international tournament. There was a lot of pride in the performances with the bowlers deserving a lot of praise and the fielding was amongst the best in the tournament with a special mention for James Aitchison of Ramsey who excelled when called on as 12th man. The batting was below par due somewhat to nerves but got better as the tournament progressed. Whilst there was initial dissapointment at losing out on 7th place on run-rate to Croatia, the spirit of the squad remained high with the knowledge that we have a tournament next year with promotion to aim for.

ISLE OF MAN INTERNATIONAL APPEARANCES

Rob Webber 5, Gareth Morris 5, Connor Byrne 5, Graeme Garrett 5, Keith Brew 5, Neil Holmes 5, Peter Richards 5, Ollie Webster 5, Adam Peel 5, Christian Steriopulos 3, Graham Webb 3, Duncan Miller 2, Juan Corlett 2.