Published: May 29, 2016, 01:09 PM (IST)
Edited: May 29, 2016, 05:08 PM (IST)
Jersey’s Anthony Hawkins-Kay’s unbeaten 60 followed by an inspiring skill bowling defeated Oman by 44 runs to take the Division Five Title. Chasing a target of 195, Oman’s innings never got going as they kept losing wickets at regular wickets. They got all out in the 46th over to handover the title to Jersey. Oman’s Zeeshan Maqsood top scored with 43 off 22 balls but after his dismissal Oman struggled to get going. Hawkins had a good game overall as he scored an unbeaten 60 and ended the game taking the key wicket of Maqsood when he was looking good. In the third place game, Guernsey came from behind after a spirited effort from Vanuatu to win the game by 19 runs at St. Martin.
As reported by espncricinfo.com, Oman won the toss and asked Jersey to bat in difficult bowling conditions. Rajeshkumar Ranpura started the proceedings well for Oman and seized the movement on offer with a fantastic swing bowling spell. He bowled his quota of ten overs on trot and finished with a spell of 3 for 21. He removed both openers and Jonty Jenner to peg Jersey back at 51 for 4 in the 19th over.
Finally when Hawkins-Kay was joined by Corey Bisson, they put up a 71-run stand to give Jersey hope and their confidence was boosted further by being able to see off the threat of Munis Ansari, who offered little support to Ranpura at the start of the innings and was ineffective in the death overs as well, ending up with figures of 0 for 51.
Hawkins was lucky while batting as he was dropped at slip 12 runs. Oman paid the price for their lackluster fielding as they dropped as many as four catches. Chasing 195, Maqsood did not get much support from the other end. Apart from him, a 42-run stand for the seventh wicket by Noorul Riaz and Swapnil Khadye provided a faint hope for Oman of making a comeback. The two men were the only others besides Maqsood to reach double-figures, but both eventually fell to the left-arm spin of Nat Watkins and Ben Stevens for 29 and 24 respectively.
On the other hand, in the third place game, Guernsey staved off a game effort from Vanuatu to hold on by 19 runs at St Martin. Lastly, Tanzania got the better of Nigeria with one wicket to spare in the fifth place playoff at St Clement for their first win of the tournament.
