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10-MAN FRANCE TOO STRONG FOR ITALY

EDF


It was a horror start for the French who lost their first four wickets for 16 but a fifth wicket stand of 61 between Sulanga Hewawalandanage (30) and Jonathon Houghton (15) put them back on track and Rameez Ihsan then top scored from No 7 with 36 not out. Ihsan and No 9 Sankara Wickremasinghe (27) put on 85 runs for the 8th wicket in a partnership that was highlighted by excellent running between the wickets that put pressure back on the Italians and got France up to 167. Luca Moscatellini was the pick of the bowlers, not just because he took three wickets but because he did not bowl a single wide. The five other Italy bowlers sent down 34.

Italy’s start was almost as bad, losing four for 25 and they did not have the partnerships to threaten the French dominance. Ihsan followed up his batting heroics with five wickets for 41 - 18 of them wides - and had great support from off spinners Sulanga Hewawalandanage (2-25) and Jonathan Houghton (1-12 from 7 overs). With only 46 runs to win and three wickets in hand the return of opening bowler Prakash Ayyavooraju proved a master move from the French captain as he claimed the last two wickets - both leg before. Gayashan De Silva finished 49 not out, he ran out of partners and France will hope to surprise hosts Guernsey in Tuesday Group B game.

Rameez Ihsan was without doubt the player of the match top scoring for France with 36 not out batting at number 7 and backing this up with a five-wicket haul.

Group A
                            P    W    T   NR    L  Pts
Gibraltar                   1    1    0    0    0    2
Jersey                      0    0    0    0    0    0
Germany                     1    0    0    0    1    0
  • Gibraltar (2) beat Germany (0) by 2 wickets.
    College Field, 13 August.
    Germany 184 (35.5 overs, T Mahmood 83, K Mirpuri 3-34)
    Gibraltar 186-8 (47.4 overs, I Latin 72*, T Mahmood 4-30)
  • 14 August: Jersey v Germany
  • 15 August: Gibraltar v Jersey
Group B
                            P    W    T   NR    L  Pts
France                      1    1    0    0    0    2
Guernsey                    0    0    0    0    0    0
Italy                       1    0    0    0    1    0
  • France (2) beat Italy (0) by 40 runs.
    Port Soif, 13 August.
    France 167 (47.3 overs, R Ihsan 36*, L Di Giglio 3-24, L Moscatellini 3-31)
    Italy 127 (40.2 overs, G De Silva 49*, R Ihsan 5-41)
  • 14 August: Guernsey v France
  • 15 August: Italy v Guernsey