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After a disappointing season, Derbyshire have today decided not to offer 2002 playing contracts to Trevor Smith and Stephen Titchard, whilst Alex Edwards and Zubair Khan will also be released.Meanwhile, sadly, after a frustrating season with his fitness, Richard Illingworth has decided to retire from the First Class game, following a distinguished career with Worcestershire CCC and England. All at the Club wish Richard well.On a positive note, overseas star Michael Di Venuto is to be retained for 2002 after a solid season of more than 1,000 First Class runs. He is determined to help the Club achieve a reversal of fortune and is viewed by Derbyshire as an important part of a long term, more successful future. He will take on the Vice-captaincy next season, taking over the role from Tim Munton; in what was agreed by all to be a naturally progressive move for the coming years. The Club would wish to thank Tim for his efforts over the last two years, when his experience has proved invaluable to the younger members of the squad.Christopher Bassano has signed a two-year contract and Tom Lungley a one-year contract, whilst Kevin Dean, Stephen Stubbings, Luke Sutton, Rawait Khan and Lian Wharton have all been offered new or extended terms. Steven Selwood will once again be with the squad in 2002, after the completion of his university studies. Paul Aldred, Rob Bailey, Mathew Dowman, Karl Krikken, Tim Munton and James Pyemont all remain on existing contracts until the end of season 2002.In the first move to strengthen the squad, Derbyshire have completed the signing of exciting Free State batsman Andrew Gait (23), who qualifies through his father’s British nationality to play in English County Cricket. A prolific run scorer in South African state and representative cricket, Andrew is an excellent fielder and a quality acquisition for the Club.

Playing his first competitive game since March, left-arm spinner Ashton Agar celebrated his comeback by dismissing a man he admired – India Test captain Virat Kohli.Agar, who has only recently recovered from shoulder injury, was in his fourth over when he trapped Kohli lbw for 16 off 42 balls and contributed to bundling India A out for 135 in Chennai.”It was very satisfying to get Virat Kohli out,” he said. “I look up to him as a batsman. He is one of my favourite players to watch bat. So, to get an opportunity to bowl to him was great and then to get him out was even better. I was very pleased with that.”Agar, who took 2 for 23 in 12 overs, credited his team-mates for sticking to their disciplines. The plan had been to attack the stumps to make the most of the occasional up-and-down bounce in the MA Chidambaram pitch. Considering they did not allow anyone to score more than 50, and shot the opposition out in 135 overs, it was a job well done.”I think we bowled extremely well all day,” Agar said. “So, bowling to the stumps, there is variable bounce in the pitch. If one shoots low, there is a chance of lbw or bowled. If one kicks a bit you get a chance for caught behind, caught in the slips or caught in front of the wicket.There had been some resistance, with Karun Nair and Naman Ojha playing out a wicket-less second session but their 56-run fifth-wicket stand came in 197 balls. That meant Australia A felt they were never too far behind.”So, we had a plan and we stuck to that the whole time and though we din’t get any wickets in the middle session, their scoreboard wasn’t really moving,” Agar said. “So, we knew if we got two wickets quickly then they are in a lot of trouble and that’s what happened and we were able to run through the tail in the end. I think our plan went really well.”Agar then got on to grip and turn sharply past Ojha’s defences and seeing that even seamers like Gurinder Sandhu decided to follow suit. Sandhu took 3 for 25.”When the spinners were bowling, there was some turn out there. So we thought we could try our offcutters and legcutters and see what happens. It might turn and grip a little, it might hold when you play and someone tries to get a catch in front of the wicket. We just thought we could give it a go. If you don’t try, you don’t know what’s going to happen. He [Stoinis] tried a little more than I did. It worked for him last game and it worked for him this game. It was just the change up to the normal ball or the cross-seam ball.”

Omitting the pull and hook shots early in his innings was what Kane Williamson has said was the key to scoring the second-innings ton that saw his side to victory in the Hamilton Test.”All the guys like to play the pull, but like any shot, on some surfaces it’s important you try to select the right ball,” Williamson said. “I was a victim of that in the first innings as well, having played the pull shot a lot in previous games and thinking I could go out and do that again. I wanted to make sure I was sounder in my decision making in the second innings.”Day three of the match had seen 15 wickets fall to short deliveries as batsmen from both teams failed to contend with sustained bouncer barrages. Williamson scored the only hundred of the match, finishing on 108 not out, but was also the only batsman to cross 50 in the second innings.

Angelo Mathews on Williamson

“His innings was brilliant. It was controlled aggression. I thought he’s up there when it comes to the top-ten batters. He’s been having a great run for New Zealand in the last few years. He was batting well and we just couldn’t get him.”
“He’s surely going to break more records. He’s a tremendous player. At his age he can achieve a lot more than he has achieved right now. He’s really taken up the responsibility and is batting through the innings. That kind of a player is very valuable in the team.”

He occasionally utilised the pull in his second innings, but each of those shots were controlled, and generally played towards the ground. Williamson said he adjusted his batting plan after having been out hooking for one in his first dig.”I think in the first innings we didn’t adapt to the change in the surface and the extra bounce compared to Dunedin. The bounce was a bit variable – some stood up and some kissed through quickly and quite steep to make it more difficult. I wanted to take in a sound game plan to stick to. That meant initially going under the ball when it was hard and then, as it got softer, when the bowlers had a few overs under the belt, I’d look to play the pull bit more. It was important not to get carried away with the shot.”Williamson, who broke the New Zealand records for most centuries and runs in a calendar year — five and 1172 respectively — during his second-innings century, said it was pleasing to be recognised but stressed team success. His tally puts him at fifth for highest run-scorers in 2015 — behind Alastair Cook, Joe Root, David Warner and Steven Smith — though his average of 90.15 is more than 13 runs higher than that of any other batsman to have scored 400 runs. The innings at Hamilton comprised 57% of New Zealand’s fourth innings score of 189.”It’s always nice to get a score but it means more when you spend some time in the middle and make a larger contribution to a team performance,” Williamson said. “The wicket wasn’t easy to bat on. It wasn’t the biggest chase but it seemed some distance away because both teams came up with pretty sound bowling plans.”Williamson lauded the adaptability of New Zealand’s seam bowlers, who had largely bowled full in search of edges in the first innings. Nine of their second-innings wickets had come from the short ball, however, with the tenth being a run out, also partly caused by the use of a bouncer.”We’ve got good swing bowlers and guys that seam the ball, but to have to basically all of them come on the other side of the wicket and bowled short to execute a plan, was very good to see,” Williamson said. “It was different to all those Tests, certainly, that I’ve played. We had to adopt very different tactics. Sri Lanka bowled the short ball very well, and we certainly learnt from their efforts in our second innings in the field.”Dushmantha Chameera had been particularly effective for Sri Lanka with the bouncer, picking up his first five-wicket haul in the first innings, and taking 9 for 115 in the match.”Chameera’s a very talented bowler,” Williamson said. “Anyone that bowls with good pace is an asset to a side. Coming over here on slightly greener surfaces that we feel are suited to our bowlers, he bowled very well on them. I’m sure he will get a lot out of coming over here, playing in these conditions, and continue to improve.”

When the Board of Control for Cricket in India meets in Mumbai on Tuesday, the buzz may be singularly focussed on the Indian Cricket League (ICL) and what to do with players who have left its fold, but the BCCI has several other matters to discuss on its agenda.But first and foremost, the board will have to decide what action to take with players who have joined the ICL. In a press conference on Monday, the Zee Telefilms group announced that it had already signed up as many as 44 players. This has left several Ranji teams, notably Hyderabad, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Railways and Bengal severely depleted.It is widely believed that the BCCI will stick to its guns and slap bans on players who have signed up with the ICL. While the BCCI cannot, in any way, stop players from signing up with the ICL, it is certainly within their grasp to exclude these players from deriving any benefit from the BCCI. This means that these players will not be eligible to play in any tournaments conducted by the BCCI or its constituents.This will in turn mean that these players cannot even take part in league cricket organised by state associations – the Kanga League in Mumbai or the First Division League for the Palayampatti Shield in Chennai, for example. These players are likely to lose their jobs, which they hold solely for the purposes of representing a certain team – corporate or bank or public sector – in cricket tournaments. The players will also be ineligible for the pension that the BCCI currently pays out to former cricketers.However, one of the pressing matters that the board will be attending to, when it comes to making constitutional amendments, is finding a successor for Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president, in September 2008. Pawar will become vice-president of the International Cricket Council in July 2008, and will then have to relinquish office at his home board. The BCCI is set to appoint an interim president for the three-month period from July till September 2008, when the elections are set to take place.Once the ICC announced that David Morgan of the ECB, and Pawar from the BCCI, would take up office as ICC president in 2008 and 2010 respectively, the BCCI decided to clear the stage for similar practice at home, wherein the president elect will be chosen a year in advance. This suggestion, sources reveal, came from Inderjit Singh Bindra, former president of the BCCI and current president of the Punjab Cricket Association. It was suggested that such a practice would ensure that the president elect had a good working knowledge of the board, and that elections would proceed in a smooth manner.As per the procedural changes being suggested, the interim president for that period will be someone from the same zone as the existing president – West Zone – which in this case will be Chirayu Amin. By rotation the next turn, which will be for a full three years, from September 2008 till 2011, goes to Central Zone. The front-runner here is Shashank Manohar, who is the president of the Vidarbha Cricket Association and vice-president of the BCCI, apart from being a close aide of Pawar. What this will mean, in effect, is that there will be no elections for the post of president in 2008 and the current regime will continue, unchallenged, till 2011.It is understood that Lalit Modi, the man behind many of the financial and business aspects of the board, is to have suggested that a similar procedure be adopted for other office bearers of the board, apart from the president, in order to ensure some sort of continuity. However, it is unclear how other members of the board have taken this suggestion.The BCCI will also have to make changes to its constitution for the appointment of paid selectors. It is believed that from 2008 onwards – till then the existing system will continue – there will be a pool of five selectors, preferably but not necessarily one from each zone, with a tenure of three years and an option of a one-year extension. Also set to change is the criteria for selectors. All senior selectors will now have to have played at least five Test matches or 50 first-class matches. Currently a selector merely has to have played one first-class match. To be a member of the junior selection committee, the eligibility will be a minimum of 25 first-class matches.

South Africa 156 for 4 (Bosman 38) beat Zimbabwe (Chibhabha 38, Hall 3-23) by six wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Despite a top-order wobble, South Africa clinched a six-wicket win and an unassailable series lead over Zimbabwe in the rescheduled second one-day international at East London. It shouldn’t have been so tricky given that the target was 153, but in the end South Africa were able to get home in good time to round off a comprehensive bowling effort earlier in the day. In the midst of all this, Jacques Kallis became the first South African in the history of the game to have 8,000 runs and 200 wickets in both forms of the game.After the in-form Boeta Dippenaar fell to an ugly pull shot that Vusi Sibanda did well to judge at point under the floodlights, two rookie batsmen looked as if they wanted to finish the game on their own. Loots Bosman showed no signs of nerves after he ducked into his first ball and took a blow to the helmet. Keen to make amends for his rash dismissal in the first one-dayer at Bloemfontein, he made sure to get right behind the line when defending the tight deliveries. He was afforded a slice of luck when Piet Rinke misjudged a top-edged cut shot at third man, but all it did was change the complexion of his innings.A deft dab to the same region, a square drive on the up through cover point, and a huge hit over wide long-off for maximum followed. Perhaps loving the thrill of the lights and the cheer from the crowd, Bosman took it one step further with a golf-like tee back down the ground to signal the 50-run stand off just 31 balls with Alviro Peterson, the Lions batsman on international debut. Peterson was into his stride quickly as he worked his third delivery through midwicket for three before executing a perfect pull for four to get the stands swaying.However, both batsmen were given a reality check by Rinke, the most unthreatening of medium pacers there must be in the game. Tossed the ball in the tenth over, Rinke struck in his second when he got Peterson to chop an attempted nudge to third man onto the stumps and he then bowled Bosman through the drive. Rinke nearly had a third when Kallis drove him over cover’s outstretched fingertips.Prosper Utseya brought Anthony Ireland back into the attack and he responded with his second wicket when he bowled Kallis with one that kept low and nipped in. This big wicket, and Rinke’s double strike, apparently had not been enough to shake South Africa up. Justin Kemp tried to make a further mess of the situation, but Utseya dropped him at short midwicket – pull, in and out – to deny Ireland a third wicket as well. It was that kind of evening. Eventually, Kemp (28 not-out) and another newbie, Jean-Paul Duminy (31 not-out), completed the formalities.Utseya’s decision to bat first didn’t go down smoothly as Zimbabwe’s batting came a cropper against a disciplined South African attack. The match was postponed by 24 hours due to rain on Sunday and started an hour late today because of a wet outfield, but South Africa’s bowlers wasted little time in bundling a fragile Zimbabwe out for just 152 in 49.4 overs.Whereas at Bloemfontein South Africa’s bowling was under par at the start, today Makhaya Ntini and Shaun Pollock removed the openers early and Kallis’s decision to bring himself on first change was backed up with quick wickets. Ntini needed just four deliveries to remove Sibanda, Zimbabwe’s top-scorer with 51 in the previous match, and was his usual hustling self as he regularly hit the right spots around the off stump. Pollock was his usual economic self and fired in an excellent delivery that nipped back and sent Tafadzwa Mufambisi’s leg stump cartwheeling.Kallis struck gold with his first delivery when he drew a leading edge from Hamilton Masakadza and snapped a neat catch moving to his right. He picked up a quick second wicket when Brendan Taylor mistimed a flick and was snapped up by a diving midwicket. And when Andrew Hall clipped Stuart Matsikenyeri’s off stump with a one that nipped in low, Zimbabwe were 73 for 5 with plenty to fret about.Chamu Chibhabha and Elton Chigumbura put on 47 for the sixth wicket in the only substantial partnership of the innings, but their untimely dismissals near the death allowed South Africa a window to smash through. Ntini returned to nab Chibhabha, Peterson – who maintained a tight line with his brand of left-arm spin – added Rinke’s wicket, and Hall ran through the remaining batsmen. Utseya helped his side over the 150 mark with a six and a four, but this was a total that would challenge few sides in international cricket.Zimbabwe just didn’t show enough gumption for a fight in the face of South Africa’s improved bowling performance. The top order failed to read the length of Ntini and Pollock, there were attempts to go aerial when defense was in order, and the errors against spin were glaring. Given that this was their last chance for competition ahead of next month’s Champions Trophy, Zimbabwe have much to address in terms of their batting.How they were out
Zimbabwe
Vusi Sibanda c Boucher b Ntini 0 (1 for 1)
Tafadzwa Mufambisi b Pollock 21 (27 for 2)
Hamilton Masakadza c & b Kallis 5 (33 for 3)
Brendan Taylor c Hall b Kallis 5 (50 for 4)
Stuart Matsikenyeri b Hall 14 (73 for 5)
Elton Chigumbura st Boucher b Peterson 30 (120 for 6)
Chamu Chibhabha c Duminy b Ntini 38 (122 for 7)
Piet Rinke lbw b Peterson 3 (128 for 8)
Anthony Ireland b Hall 1 (132 for 9)
Ed Rainsford b Hall (152 for 10)
South Africa
Boeta Dippenaar c Sibanda b Ireland 9 (14 for 1)Alviro Peterson b Rinke 20 (67 for 2)
Loots Bosman b Rinke 38 (72 for 3)
Jacques Kallis b Ireland 26 (109 for 4)

Andy Blignaut, the former Zimbabwe allrounder, has been dropped by Tasmania for their first home game of the season against Victoria at Hobart on Monday. Blignaut has played 15 Tests and 47 one-day internationals but was left out after recording figures of 0 for 79 off 12 overs and 9 & 0 in the nine-wicket loss to Western Australia last month.Peter Faulkner, the TCA chairman of selectors, said Blignaut was selected too early and was not sufficiently prepared. “He is an essential part of the team and has a huge role to play in our success this season,” he said. “We believe he will have a huge impact on the game when he takes to the field.”Adam Griffith has replaced Blignaut while Travis Birt makes way for Michael Bevan, who has recovered from an achilles injury.Tasmania Daniel Marsh (c), Michael DiVenuto, Michael Bevan, Sean Clingeleffer, Jamie Cox, David Dawson, Michael Dighton, Xavier Doherty, Andrew Downton, Brett Geeves, Adam Griffith, Damien Wright.

Scorecard

Is there a venue where you can get closer to your heroes than WhitgiftSchool? The question came to mind at lunch, as impromptu games took place infront of the hexagonal brick pavilion and Surrey players shoutedencouragement to the young players from their balcony. The kids soonreturned the favour. When Surrey returned to the pavilion having bowledLancashire out for a mere 210, the children lined up on the outfield to clapthem off. Gloriously, not a single steward told them to get off the pitch.By the end of the day you sensed that the Lancashire players would havehappily have given Surrey directions off the pitch, and added a few otherinstructions too. Surrey went to their beds with a deficit of only 64,thanks largely to a partnership of 102 between Mark Ramprakash and ScottNewman. It wasn’t always a barrel of laughs – there was a certain amount ofsheer grind after tea – but both played some classy drives. Newman inparticular delighted the crowd; so much so that when they applauded one fineshot he thought he’d reached 50 and celebrated a run early.The Whitgift ground is almost in miniature, with a pavilion so small that itcan hold only the home team – the Lancashire players have to change in tentsalongside. The bank that slopes down to the pitch teems with picnickers who,meander around the pitch at the intervals, rubbing shoulders with thebowlers as they do their stretches.Not that Martin Bicknell or Jimmy Ormond needed much warming up. Bicknelltook the first Lancashire wicket in only the third over of the day,straightening Mark Chilton up with a good length ball that carried to firstslip. Ormond followed up in the next over, sneaking the first ball backthrough Iain Sutcliffe’s defences.There is no doubt that the pitch here undulates – from one angle it lookslike a badly laid rug. But although the bounce was variable it never stayedparticularly low and it was the amount of lift that the Surrey bowlersgenerated that seemed to throw Lancashire into confusion. Jamie Haynes andDinesh Mongia were both out to poor shots and suddenly Lancashire were fourwickets down in only the ninth over.Only Chris Schofield prevented a total rout. After his false coming asEngland’s Messianic leg-spinner, Schofield is now re-defining himself as abatting allrounder. He rode his luck today, dropped in the covers on 7and in the slips on 8, but refused to let the team’s situation get himdown. He hit eight fours on his way to a half-century, more than a couplewith a powerfully swatted pull shot that the slip cordon mimicked himadmiringly.For a while Schofield had the company of Glen Chapple, who set about ruiningOrmond’s figures, including six boundaries from just two overs. TheSchofield/Chapple partnership doubled Lancashire’s total, but when Chapplewafted to second slip, Azhar Mahmood moved in and picked off the stragglers.

Close Attacking batting from West Indies lit up the second half of the second day’s play in the inaugural Test in St Lucia. Wavell Hinds led the way with a forthright 74 not out as West Indies made a spirited reply to Sri Lanka’s stolid 354.Hinds, who biffed four sixes off the spinners, as well as three fours, played the major role in an unbeaten third-wicket stand of 95 with Brian Lara, who was also in attack mode during his innings. Neither batsman allowed the spinners to settle – important after Muttiah Muralitharan struck early on, pinning Chris Gayle in front with his arm ball for 27 (66 for 2). That followed another lbw decision, when Daren Ganga (12) was beaten by Chaminda Vaas (18 for 1).Thoughts of the follow-on were banished by the aggressive Hinds, and at stumps – which again came a few overs early, this time because of bad light – West Indies had reached 161 for 2.Earlier Corey Collymore had marked his return to Test cricket with his first five-wicket haul as Sri Lanka were pegged back. Chaminda Vaas provided some dour resistance in the afternoon session, squeezing precious runs out of the tail, before the innings finally folded for 354.After their lacklustre efforts yesterday, the West Indian bowlers were a rejuvenated lot this morning. Collymore and Merv Dillon troubled the batsmen with swing and seam, but it was Hinds’s part-time wobblers which accounted for Marvan Atapattu for 118. Hinds coaxed Atapattu into a loose drive outside off stump, which he nicked straight to Lara at second slip (266 for 5).Now Collymore took over. First Romesh Kaluwitharana (2) was adjudged leg-before to one that was slipping down the leg side (269 for 6). Then Kaushal Lokuarachchi edged low to Lara (285 for 7), and Thilan Samaraweera nicked one through to Ridley Jacobs (288 for 8).Vaas and an uncharacteristically cautious Muralitharan (69 balls for 14) then dug in either side of lunch, putting on 38 for the ninth wicket. Hinds again proved the partnership-breaker, trapping Muralitharan leg-before with the fourth ball of a new spell (326 for 9).But there was more frustration for West Indies as Vaas and Prabatha Nissanka eked out 28 for the last wicket in nearly an hour, before Vaas, whose 38 occupied 125 balls, was caught behind off Gayle. Hinds finished with 2 for 28, but the bowling honours went to Collymore, with 5 for 66.Lara will be looking to continue the attack on the third morning. West Indies need a big score, as the pitch is already taking spin and they will not want to face a big fourth-innings target with Murali on the case.

Sussex emerged from the second day with a lead of 85 and the guarantee that a draw would put them in the First Division next season.Warwickshire, now struggling to get back into a promotion spot, stubbornly stayed in contention thanks to the efforts of Ian Bell and Vasbert Drakes.Drakes wrapped up Sussex’s first innings for 321 by taking the last two wickets in five balls and then made his first half-century for the county in a recovery to a total of 248.The West Indian all-rounder’s partnership of 85 with Bell cleared a target of 172 to avoid the follow-on and everything else represented unexpected profit after a slump to 101 for 5.Bell, the England Under-19 captain, continued his development to an Academy place in Australia by reaching 549 runs in 13 Championship innings this season.The 19-year-old gave one chance on 51 as he hit 12 fours from 175 balls and reached 80 before an edge off Mark Robinson gave Chris Adams his third catch in the slips.The early damage had been caused by Jason Lewry and James Kirtley, the cutting edge in Sussex’s successful campaign with 121 Championship wickets between them.Though they were unable to sustain the breakthrough, Robin Martin-Jenkins got rid of the stubborn Nick Knight for 17 and came back to whittle through the lower-order for figures of 4-75.Drakes, who hit nine boundaries, became his fourth victim when caught behind the wicket after making exactly 50 and Melvyn Betts was close to snatching another batting point until caught on the long leg boundary off Kirtley.Sussex then lost Murray Goodwin, who made 150 in the first innings, while making 12 for 1 in seven overs before the close.

Group AAustria beat Gibraltar by six runs in Port Soif, on the first day of the European Championship Division One Twenty20. Having been asked to bat, Austria put up n 141 in 19.1 overs, mainly due to handy cameos from the lower order. Gibraltar fell just short of the target, finishing on 135 for 8, despite an unbeaten knock of 66 from 60 balls by Mark Bacarese.Italy chased down 90 in a tight game against Croatia in St Peter Port, winning by one wicket. Choosing to bat, Croatia’s innings lacked momentum, as they limped to 89 despite having four wickets in hand at the end of their 20 overs. Italy were not convincing in the chase, but sneaked home on the back of a knock of 26 not out from middle-order batsman Damian Crowley. Croatia’s fast bowlers John Vujnovich and Vivek Sharma were impressive, claiming three wickets each in tidy spells.Guernsey registered a comprehensive 10-wicket win against Norway at Castel. Choosing to bowl they shot out Norway for 57, before openers Tim Ravenscroft and Ross Kneller chased down the target in 7.1 overs. James Nussbaumer was the pick of their bowlers, knocking over three top-order Norway batsmen and conceding only seven runs in a 3.2-over spell.In their second game of the day Italy turned out an improved performance, easing past Austria by seven wickets in Castel. Batting first, Austria were bowled out for 105 in 19th over, as none of their top order were able to build on double-digit starts. Peter Petricola did most of the damage with the ball, claiming 4 for 20. Steady batting from Italy in the chase saw them through without much drama.Norway recovered well from their one-sided defeat against Guernsey to beat Gibraltar by a comfortable eight-wicket margin in Port Soif. Batting first, Gibraltar managed only 77 for 8 in their 20. Legspinner Muhammad Butt produced the best figures of the game, 3 for 13, before Norway’s batsmen clicked. Driven by an innings of 35 from 20 balls by Zaheer Ashiq, they knocked off the runs 62 balls to spare.Guernsey remained unbeaten on day one, beating Croatia by three wickets with an over to spare in St Peter Port. Chasing 98, the Guernsey top order was shaky and wickets fell at regular intervals, but a steady 34 from Stuart Le Prevost and a couple of timely lower-order cameos saw them home.Group BBelgium beat France by five wickets with two balls to spare in St Clement. Choosing to bat, France’s innings was hampered as both openers were run out. There were no sizeable contributions from the rest of the order, as they folded for 114 in exactly 20 overs. In the chase, four of Belgium’s top five batsmen got into double figures, ensuring their side began with a win.Denmark eased past Israel by eight wickets in St Martin, chasing down a target of 95 with five overs to spare. Denmark’s ploy of bowling first worked, as their bowlers shared the wickets around in tidy spells to restrict Israel to 94 for 9. The chase was steered by a fluent, unbeaten 44 from opener Freddie Klokker.A solid all-round performance helped Jersey beat Germany by six wickets in St Brelade. Choosing to field, Jersey kept Germany to 99 for 7. Only middle-order batsman Imran Chaudhry was able to launch an attack, scoring 36 off 25, before being bowled by Anthony Hawkins-Kay who claimed 3 for 13. Jersey were solid in the chase. Their top order produced steady cameos, which carried them to a win in the 17th over.Belgium won a nail-biter against Denmark by one run when last man Sair Anjum was caught off the bowling of Faisal Khaliq with two to get and three balls remaining in St Clement. Having chosen to bat, Belgium were bowled out for a modest 104. Bobby Chawla was the pick of the bowlers, taking 3 for 13. Denmark got off to horrendous start, losing half their side with only 19 runs on the board. However, a lower-order resurgence saw them fight back to within touching distance of victory, but Belgium, and Khaliq, eventually had the final say to remain unbeaten after two games.Tony Carlyon starred with the ball and Dean Martin with the bat as Jersey routed Israel by eight wickets in St. Martin. Put in to bat by Jersey, Israel crawled to 87 all out from their 20 overs, with Carlyon taking 4 for 9 in four overs. He was ably backed up Anthony Hawkins-Kay, who took 3 for 16. Martin then made sure there would be no jitters chasing the small total with a brutal, unbeaten 64 from 44 balls, laced with three fours and five sixes, to see Jersey home with eight overs to spare.An allround bowling performance helped France beat Germany by 34 runs in St Brelade. Put into bat, France managed 126 for 7, with Usman Khan top scoring with 36. Germany struggled from the start, losing wickets at regular intervals, and were bundled out for 92 in 18.3 overs. Zika Ali picked up 3 for 17, while Usman chipped in with the ball as well, taking 2 for 22.