James Eggleston
It was a very pleasant, sunny day in Guernsey when Norway won the toss and decided to bat first. Javed Rana-Iqbal and Ehsan Latif opened the bowling for Germany and it was Latif who made the first breakthrough when Rishi Pillai held a good catch in the slips from the first ball of Latif's third over. There were several lbw appeals from both bowlers turned down by the umpires; and, often beating the batsman for pace, Javed Iqbal took the 2nd wicket to go down, by means of a catch by Satya behind the wicket. In the very next over Latif took two wickets, one bowled the other an lbw decision. This put Norway on 44 for 4 in the 14th over. In the 16th over Latif struck again, when Satja took his second catch behind the wicket. Norway 50 for 5 wickets.
This had been a brilliant spell of opening bowling from the two speed men, Latif, the left-armer swinging the ball in at speeed to great effect and Iqbal, fast and accurate.
Norway at this point, with its back to the wall, recovered, and a partnership of 47 runs brought some respectibility to the scoreline. When the next wicket fell, a bowled out, it went to Kashif Haider, the leg-spinner. : Norway 96 for 6. Just before this a runner was called on for one of the Norwegean batsman, which added some variety to the proceedings. The next two batsman put on 53 runs, but that partnership was broken by Shakeel Hassan, as the result of a well-judged catch on the deep mid-wicket boundary by Andre Leslie. At 150 for 7 in the 44th over, the German team had still, despite the two sizeable Norwegean partnerships, restricted their opponant's scoring capabilities. In the remaining six overs, however, the Norwegean batsman hit back and with 59 more runs took the side's total to 209, losing two more wickets in the process, when Latif took a catch at mid-wicket off the bowling of Hassan and Rishi Pillai bowled out top scorer, M Shahbaz Butt, the player who had required a runner (73 runs)- his was last Norwegian wicket to fall: Norway ended its innings on 209 for 9 at the end of its 50 overs.
The German bowling figures were J. Iqbal: 10.2.44.1; E. Latif: 10.2.33.4; Hassan: 10.0.33.2; K.Haider 10.4.33.1; F.Ahmed: 7.0.28.1
Chasing 210 to win (4.02 per over), the German openers Milan Fernando and James Egglestone started confidently, 11 runs came off the first over. Things went well until the 9th over when a mix-up saw Fernando scampering to reach his ground after the call for a short single went wrong and he was run out. He had made 22 runs as usual in a quick manner while Egglestone anchored. Germany 35 for 1.
Andre Leslie, coming in at one down, played himself in nicely and the 50 came up in the 13th over. The pair turned the 50 into a hundred in the 28th over and pushed on with the score growing steadily all the time. It looked as though there would a calm progression to the total required, but when Leslie was out, caught at mid-off in the 31st over for 28 – Germany 117 for 2 - and in the next over, Rishi Pillai, who replaced him at the wicket, was out, stumped, for 4 runs – Germany 121 for 3 - the game turned. James Egglestone was very lucky to escape a dropped catch at cover– not a difficult one - in the over after this. The Norwegeans lived to regret that dropped catch, for Egglestone continued his captain's innings till almost the end of the game, making 87 runs: his highets score to date for Germany and with one game to go the highest by a German player at this tournament.
Khalid Butt, playing his first innings for Germany in an international tournament since 2004, was next at the wicket. He made 7 before falling to a catch behind the wicket. Germany 131 for 4.
Wicket-keeper-batsman, Satya was in next and it was his partnership with Egglestone which brought the game back in Germany's direction. The pair put on 74 runs; but then, after having passed the 200 mark together in the 47th over and got to within 5 runs of the target of 210 to win, fell in the same 49th over, Satya bowled and Egglestone caught at mid-off. Satya hade made 34 and Egglestone 87.
Brilliant excitement for the neutral spectators but nerve -wracking for the German team, management and supporters at the game and those following the game by internet coverage.
Farook Ahmed followed Satya to the wicket and hit a crucial 3 runs before the Egglestone wicket fell and Shakeel Hassan, came in. These two very experienced players saw Germany home, however, by Farook scoring first of all the run that tied the game - and then came the final boundary four from Hassan which clinched the victory. Sighs of relief in the German camp followed by instantaneous celebrations.
This was a crucial win for Germany. The table now reads: Guernsey 8 points, Germany 6, France 4, Norway 4, Israel 2 and Gibraltar 0.
One day's play remains: Germany v. Israel; France v. Gibraltar; Norway v. Guernsey
