Hellas rally to defeat Germany

Thanks to a remarkable lower-order recovery, Hellas managed to set a reasonable target in their Pool 2 match against Germany at Hughenden, and then bowled the opposition out for 124 to run out winners by 56 runs, securing their first-ever victory at this level.

But they were rocked by Germany’s seamer Rana Javed, who took five for 22 – including three wickets in one over – to reduce them to 46 for five after eleven overs. Standing alone among the wreckage was Australian-born batsman Paul Maraziotis, and he continued to hold the innings together as further wickets fell at the other end.

By the 23rd over Hellas were 85 for seven, and a total not much in excess of 100 seemed a possibility. But Maraziotis now found a partner in Georgios Stogianos, and these two added 39 for the eighth wicket before Maraziotis was bowled by Hamid Mahmood for a well-made 54. Stogianos continued to rescue the side with help from tail-enders Imran Haider and Dimitrios Triantaffilidis, putting on 26 and 30 for the final two wickets to bring the total to 180 as Hellas were dismissed off the first ball of the 48th over.

Germany began confidently enough in response, openers Asif Khan and Farooq Ahmed putting on 23 in seven overs before Iordanis Kontarinis removed Khan, taking the first of his three wickets, while Ali Adnan Haider had Farooq caught in the following over. Skipper Debanik Sengupta now came to the wicket, and he played a solid captain’s innings as Triantaffilidis picked up three for 16 to reduce Germany to 83 for seven.

Sengupta and Zaheer Ahmed added another 28 for the eighth wicket, but once Kontarinis returned to the attack to remove the former the fight was effectively over. Zaheer was last out for 20, trapped leg before by Mehmood Ahmed, and Hellas were home.