ICC WCL Division 6 Singapore 2009

Guernsey v Norway
ICC World Cricket League Division Six 2009
Venue Indian Association Ground, Singapore on 3rd September 2009 (50-over match)
Balls per over 6
Toss Guernsey won the toss and decided to bat
Result Guernsey won by 47 runs
Points Guernsey 2; Norway 0
Umpires S Gurung, BB Pradhan
Scorers V Pasupathy, S Veillard
Man of the Match GH Smit

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Guernsey innings					Runs	Balls	Mins	4s	6s	SR		Norway bowling	Ov	Mdn	Runs	Wkts	W	Nb	SR	ER
G H Smit	c	Munawar Ahmed	b	Shahbaz Butt	71	116		5	-	61.2		Aamer Waheed	10	1	44	1	2	-	60	4.4
R Kneller			b	Dawood	15	17		1	-	88.2		Dawood	10	0	49	4	-	-	15	4.9
†T C R Kimber	c	Ata-ul-Aziz	b	Shahbaz Butt	34	33		4	-	103.0		Mubasshar Bhatti	6	0	29	1	2	-	36	4.8
J D J Frith	st	Munawar Ahmed	b	Shahbaz Butt	54	56		5	-	96.4		Zeeshan Ali	4	0	27	0	2	-		6.75
L Savident			b	Aamer Waheed	2	8		-	-	25.0		Ata-ul-Aziz	2	0	13	0	-	-		6.5
*S E Le Prevost			b	Dawood	17	24		1	-	70.8		Shahbaz Butt	10	0	29	3	1	-	20	2.9
K B Moherndl			b	Dawood	4	8		-	-	50.0		Shahzad Umran	2	0	11	0	1	-		5.5
J J Warr	c	Adeel Ibrar	b	Dawood	1	5		-	-	20.0		Zaheer Ashiq	3	0	17	0	-	-		5.7
J A J Nussbaumer			b	Mubasshar Bhatti	10	12		1	-	83.3		Shahid Ahmed	3	0	19	0	1	-		6.3
S R M Bisson	not	out			15	17		2	-	88.2
G J Rich	not	out			2	4		-	-	50.0
Extras (b1, lb5, w13, nb0)					19
Total (for 9 wkts in 50 overs)					244
Fall of wickets
1-24(Kneller),2-82(Kimber),3-184(Frith),4-189(Smit),5-189(Savident),6-198(Moherndl),7-208(Warr),8-213(Le Prevost),9-228(Nussbaumer)

Norway innings					Runs	Balls	Mins	4s	6s	SR		Guernsey bowling	Ov	Mdn	Runs	Wkts	W	Nb	SR	ER
*Zaheer Ashiq	c	Kneller	b	Frith	62	50		6	4	124.0		Savident	5	0	27	1	1	1	30	5.4
Shahzad Umran	c	Nussbaumer	b	Savident	20	25		1	2	80.0		Warr	4	0	32	0	-	-		8.0
Adeel Ibrar	lbw		b	Nussbaumer	1	7		-	-	14.3		Frith	8	2	32	2	-	-	24	4.0
Ata-ul-Aziz	c	Bisson	b	Smit	49	78		5	1	62.8		Nussbaumer	8	1	20	1	1	-	48	2.5
Zeeshan Ali	lbw		b	Bisson	1	3		-	-	33.3		Bisson	6	1	18	1	1	-	36	3.0
Shahbaz Butt	c	Savident	b	Smit	34	86		2	-	39.5		Rich	7	0	31	0	1	-		4.4
Shahid Ahmed	run	out		(Moherndl)	2	3		-	-	66.7		Smit	7.4	1	27	4	-	-	11	3.6
I Dawood			b	Smit	2	8		-	-	25.0
Mubasshar Bhatti	c	Le Prevost	b	Frith	3	8		-	-	37.5
†Munawar Ahmed	c	Kneller	b	Smit	6	4		-	1	150.0
Aamer Waheed	not	out			2	3		-	-	66.7
Extras (b2, lb3, w4, nb1, pen5)					15
Total (in 45.4 overs)					197
Fall of wickets
1-59(Shahzad Umran),2-65(Adeel Ibrar),3-91(Zaheer Ashiq),4-97(Zeeshan Ali),5-169(Ata-ul-Aziz),6-171(Shahid Ahmed),7-174(Dawood),8-177(Mubasshar Bhatti),9-189(Munawar Ahmed),10-197(Shahbaz Butt)

MATCH

GUERNSEY took a step towards staying in Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division Six yesterday when they beat Norway by 47 runs.  After losing against Singapore, Bahrain and Malaysia, the game at the Singapore Indian Association was crucial to the Sarnians’ survival as the bottom two teams go down to division seven.  And in a match that was incredibly tense at times, they came through unscathed.  It means that if they get the better of Botswana today at the Singapore Cricket Club, they will avoid the drop.

Depending on other results and net run rates, they could even still come third.  ‘It’s a great relief,’ said island manager Dave Hearse after the Norway victory.  ‘I’m pleased for the players as they’ve worked hard and they’ve been extremely disciplined off the pitch. The players will rest tonight and they know they’ve got a big game tomorrow.  It’s another must-win game.’

The match was a rearrangement from Tuesday’s wash out.

After winning the toss for the fourth time in a row, unsurprisingly Guernsey skipper Stuart Le Prevost decided to bat first on a flat track.  With Ross Kneller going cheaply for nine, pinch hitter Tom Kimber was sent in at three to take advantage of the power play.

He struck some delightful straight shots and, together with opener GH Smit, they put on 58 runs for the second wicket before Kimber went for 34.  Smit, continuing to bat more conservatively than usual, was joined by Jeremy Frith.  They carried on the momentum and took the Greens up to 184 in the 35th over and a total of 280 looked on the cards.

That was before Frith had a rush of blood and was stumped off the spin of Shabbaz Butt for 54, which triggered a mini collapse.  Smit soon followed, given out caught behind off Butt, although he looked nowhere near it.  The South African had scored 71 off 116 balls.

The following five wickets went in 10 overs for just 39 runs.

But thanks to some lusty hitting from tail enders Jamie Nussbaumer, Stuart Bisson and Gary Rich, Guernsey managed 244 for nine.  ‘At 148 for two off 30, you’re looking at 275-plus but the middle order caved in a bit and it was only through Jamie, Stuart and Gary that we got to 245, which was probably par,’ said Hearse.

Norway’s danger man with the bat this week was their long haired captain Zaheer Ashiq, who came into the game fresh from scoring 92 the day before against Singapore.  The left-handed opener was in no mood to hang about and, with partner Shadzad Umran, they swung from the off.

This was not to the liking of Guernsey’s new ball bowler Lee Savident, who received words from the umpires for his verbals.  After trying to bounce Umran out and paying the price for it by being smacked for four, Savident got his man in the same over when the opener chipped him to Nussbaumer at long off.  Norway were on 59 at the time after nine overs.

With Adeel Ibrar going shortly afterwards to Nussbaumer’s seam, Aziz Ataul came to the middle and with his skipper they began to take control of the proceedings.

The Greens were desperate to get the hard hitting Ashiq out.  He passed his 50 with a big sweep for six off Frith.  But the left arm spinner was to get his revenge when Ashiq, with the first shot he did not time, found Kneller at midwicket.

However, Ataul was still proving to be a thorn in Guernsey’s side and, with number six Shabbaz Butt, who came in for Zeeshan Ali, they were still keeping the Greens on edge.

The match was finely balanced with Norway 169 for four in the 35th.  But then arguably the turning point came when Ataul, on 49, lofted GH Smit’s off spin to Bisson, who took a great catch at long off, something that sent the Sarnians into raptures.

A brilliant run out by Guernsey’s best fielder, Kris Moherndl, then saw the end of Shadid Ahmed and when Smit got rid of Iram Dawood in the next over, the islanders could smell victory.  With Frith picking up another wicket and Smit another two, including Butt for 34, the match was Guernsey’s.  Smit ended up with figures of four for 27 and together with his runs earlier on in the day, he received the man-of-the-match award.

‘It doesn’t happen often,’ he joked before explaining why he has been relatively cautious with the bat this week.  ‘Just because I was a bit unfortunate on the first two days with the run outs and I thought I’d get some runs, otherwise there’s no point me being here. Also I didn’t want Tom Kimber to get more runs than me.’

The day’s other game saw Botswana fall to Malaysia.  Guernsey, Botswana and Norway all have two points.  Norway are bottom with the worst run rate, followed by Guernsey and then Botswana.