Hosts claim a crucial victory at damp KGV
Guernsey beat both the weather and Malta yesterday to make it two wins from two in their ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Sub-Regional Europe Qualifier campaign.
After the start had been delayed for 25 minutes as patchy drizzle drifted over the KGV, the home side fought back well after Malta had enjoyed a good powerplay with the bat to restrict the opposition to 139 before knocking off the runs for the loss of just two wickets with 37 balls to spare.
Josh Butler was named player of the match as he finished 44 not out after taking two excellent catches in the field and he emphasised the importance of the victory with the weather forecast suggesting that tomorrow morning’s clash with Finland could be in serious doubt due to heavy rain.
‘Saturday morning looks pretty poor, so two strong wins to start is what we wanted,’ Butler said.
‘We were desperate to play today and we’ve got a good result and a good performance, so now on to the next one, whether that’s Saturday or whether that’s Sunday.’
The opener felt that Guernsey’s performance against Malta was very professional in circumstances.
‘When we all kitted up and then walked out the changing room and it was misty, drizzly, we sort of thought, “oh no” – but once we got on, we knew we’d probably stay on.
‘Quite testing conditions to field in, but I think we did really, really well, we fielded nice and clean. They had a strong start in the powerplay, which these teams will – they’ll try and take the powerplay down – but we knew once we were out of that we could claw it back and then chase down whatever they get.’
Butler also joked that the damp conditions ‘made turning tough on the mat, especially for a big bloke like me’ when it came to the run chase.
‘We want to chase as quickly as possible, but not, obviously, throw away four wickets in the powerplay, so I think both games we’ve done that really, really clinically and I think we’re pretty much going at 10s both games, which is really pleasing.
‘Is it a catch 22? We want our middle order to get some time at the crease as well, but I think for us it’s game by game, win strong and move on to the next.’
In yesterday’s other games, Spain beat Czechia by one run in a thriller at Port Soif after Denmark had beaten Greece by 32 runs at the same venue in the morning.
Meanwhile, Estonia chased down 143 in 17.5 overs to beat Finland by eight wickets at KGV.
