Savident shows his class

A SUBLIME 136 from Lee Savident set up a 61-run victory for Guernsey over France in the fifth place play-off of the European Cricket Council Division Two Championship. The 29-year-old smashed the French bowling attack to all parts of the Clydesdale ground as he helped post a huge 308 total.

France's batting line-up, which was the strongest the Sarnians had come across during the tournament, had a good stab at it before coming to a close on 247.

But the general feeling in the Guernsey camp was that they should have performed in their previous matches to have booked a place in the final instead of a worthless play-off.

'It was too much too late,' said island manager Dave Hearse.

'The real Guernsey turned up today.'

Guernsey's 308 contained two century partnerships that both involved Savident, the first with Matt Oliver and then with Jamie Nussbaumer.

The greens had found themselves at 10 for one when Ami Banerjee went for four.

On a wicket that was conducive to spin, Oliver and captain Andy Biggins found themselves under the cosh as Shabir Hussain and TL Brumant extracted some excessive turn.

When Biggins, born out of frustration, was stumped off Hussain by Waseem Bhatti, Savident came to the wicket at 65 for two.

Together with fellow big hitter Oliver, they broke the French's purple patch with some sensible, aggressive batting.

Just after they had passed their century partnership, Oliver went for one sweep shot too many as the ball dollied off the back of his bat to Tahir Saeed at backward square.

The opener had carried on from the day before when he hit 71 not out against Israel to win the match for his side.

Savident on the other hand has had a disappointing time with the bat since his opening knock of 43 against Gibraltar last Thursday.

That did not seem to be affecting him too much as he looked simply majestic yesterday. Anything over-pitched was driven with ferocity down the ground and anything short was dispatched with disdain.

Someone else who was struggling for runs was Nussbaumer, but this was soon forgotten when he complemented Savident's big shots with some nifty running between the wickets and his own power shots when the occasion came around.

He was actually outscoring Savident as the former Hampshire man neared his century mark.

Once Savident got his 100 after having been stuck in the 90s for a while, he really let loose.

The highlight of his innings came on 129 when he unleashed a sublime reverse sweep that saw the ball rocket over point for four.

He departed three runs later when he lazily paddled the ball up to Saeed at short fine leg in the last over.

Savident and Nussbaumer had put on 140.

The latter went the next ball for 46 before Richard Veillard hit two off the last to put 308 on the board for the greens.

Not to be intimidated by the huge challenge in front of them, the French gave it a go.

In opener Arun Ayyavoorju they have a tall and elegant batsman who was the lynchpin of his team's innings.

He played with a nice straight bat as his partners, Shabir Hussain and Waseem Bhatti, helped him pile on the runs.

Bhatti weighed in with 44 before he was caught by Pierre Moody from Savident's off spin.

Savident returned with four wickets for 44 and, unsurprisingly, he won the man-of-the-match award.

The French kept losing wickets regularly which put Guernsey in the driving seat.

That was to change when Khalid Abdul strolled to the middle with the score on 181 for seven in the 32nd over.

Despite his small size, the left-hander could certainly hit that ball. He launched Kris Moherndl for two massive sixes and all of a sudden France looked like they might just do it as the two French batsmen had put on 63 runs.

But Abdul's big shots came to an end in the 41st over after he was caught and bowled by Moody when the seamer held on to a difficult high catch.

Moody was back in the action the following over when he ran out Ayyavoorju for 90 with a direct hit and so went France's hopes.

'It was awesome,' said France's coach Dave Szumowski.

'We expected Guernsey to be the top team in the tournament so it was pretty ironic to be playing them in the play-off.

'It was a pleasure to play Guernsey and we're looking forward to playing them again in the future.'