Berg drifts in to do an Italian Job
SEVERAL English county stars have been confirmed for the ICC European T20 Championships which start in Guernsey in a little over a fortnight.
And they include a surprise name. Hampshire all-rounder Gareth Berg has been included in the Italy squad.
Born in South Africa, Berg, who featured in last weekend’s Royal London One-Day Cup Final at Lord’s, is qualified by residency for England as well as holding an Italian passport.
It is that latter link that enables the talented medium-fast bowler to bolster the Italian challenge.
Germany, meanwhile, have their own English first-class recruits as they chase the tournament’s one available spot that moves on to contest the ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier, vying then for a place at the full T20 World Cup in Australia 2020.
The fast-improving team is expected to name Middlesex’s German-born former England Lions spinning all-rounder Ollie Rayner, Glamorgan’s Craig Meschede and Dieter Klein, of Leicestershire.
Ahead of the week-long Guernsey tournament, the home side continue their own preparations against a strong Netherlands A squad.
They will play four T20s here in the latter part of next week.
The Netherlands coach Ryan Campbell, said: ‘Our trip to Guernsey with our Netherlands A team is a very important one for us as it will give our players a great opportunity to push their case for selection firstly for our series against Zimbabwe but then ultimately for our World Cup qualifiers in October.'
Meanwhile, Elizabeth College have produced a big shock in defeating the touring MCC.
Star of the show for the school was Charlie Clapham who scored an undefeated 82 as the home team chased down 201 to win.
Yesterday’s two scheduled T20 friendlies for Guernsey against the MCC did not get far before heavy and persistent drizzle brought proceedings to a very premature close.
The morning game was just 16 overs old when the umpires called it a day with the tourists sitting on 122 for 8.
Guernsey had been staring down a big total to chase when MCC raced to 69 off eight.
But they were pegged back by off spinner Luke Le Tissier who took 2 for 21 from his four overs.
Young paceman Nic Buckle picked up a couple of wickets, including the one of Tuesday’s century-maker Zak Damarell.
