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Belgium wins one, loses one on T20 first day
Belgium lost its first match to Germany but won its second against France on the first day of the inaugural Continental European Twenty20 Tournament in The Netherlands.
The tournament, featuring Belgium, France, Germany and Netherlands A, is taking place at Excelsior 20's excellent grounds and facilities at Schiedam, and with flags, tents, inter-over music and high enthusiasm levels attracted a good number of spectators on the first day, Friday July 3.
Netherlands A completed comfortable wins over France and Germany and will take on Belgium tomorrow morning(Saturday 4) before the final and plate final in the afternoon.
Belgium won the toss against Germany and went in to bat. Despite an impressive start, however, the innings became bogged down when a series of German spinners entered the frame and Belgium ended with a hardly defensible total of 128-8 on the comparatively small Number 2 ground. Lucian De Zoysa made 24 not out.
Germany easily overhauled the total and, finishing on 133-3, won by 7 wickets. For Belgium, Iqbal Murad had an outstanding match returning figures of 4 overs, one maiden and 2 wickets for 8 runs.
Belgium again won the toss against France and, batting first, made 176-8. Nadeem Khan, later named Man of the Match by the umpires, scored a rapid 81.
Despite being kept to a very slow start and with regular wickets falling, the French managed to make a huge amount of ground in the second part of their innings. In what appeared to be a match increasingly heading for the wire, Akshat Sanghvi took the two last wickets and left France on 161 all out with the first ball of the last over.
Iqbal Murad once again dominated the bowling figures, this time returning 3 wickets for 9 runs of 4 overs. Brighton Watambwa followed with 2-18 and Akshat with 2-21.
© Belgian Cricket Federation
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