European Championship Tie - Match Report

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All photos in the European Championships section kindly contributed by Phil McKnight...
Portugal (175 for 10 off 49.4 overs) defeated Gibraltar (143 for 8 off 50 overs) by 32 runs...
The Captains toss, watched by the Match Umpires...			Gibraltar won the toss and asked Portugal to bat...
Having won the toss Gibraltar invited Portugal to bat on a strip which was expected to improve as the day wore on... The Portugese batsmen started positively but were forced to consolodate as they lost wickets at regular intervals, mainly due to an accurate Gibraltarian opening bowling attack with Hudson, in particular, maintaining a miserly line. At 40 for 4, Portugal looked to be struggling somewhat but a fifth wicket partnership of 66 which was carefully constructed frustrated the Gibraltar bowlers and put Portugal in with a chance of posting a challenging total. Another slight slump seemed to put Portugal back in trouble at 123 for 7. But an eighth wicket stand of 21 and a highly entertaining ninth wicket stand of 31 did much to enhance the final total and, when the last wicket fell, Portugal had progressed to a useful-looking 175 all out off 49.4 overs. The pick of the batsmen were opener Butt with 20, Bagvane with an essential middle-order knock of 43, assisted by Usman (24) and Cheema whose move down the order from three seemed inspired, adding a tail-end 25. The Gibraltarian opening bowling partnership of Hudson (3 for 9 off 10 overs) and Cary (2 for 22 off 10 overs) did much to stifle the earlier part of the Portugese innings. Mather also bowled well at first change with 3 for 32 off 9.4 overs. Johnson and De'ath took a wicket apiece but were relatively more expensive at 1 for 38 off 10 overs and 1 for 44 off 9 overs respectively. At the resumption of play, Gibraltar started the run-chase in uncertain fashion and, with the first four wickets falling at regular intervals, they found themselves in some trouble at 56 for 4. Against an accurate and determined Portugese attack, with Shazad showing good penetration and Mehdi bowling extremely economically, only star bowler Hudson offered much resistance with 21 runs. A positive collapse which saw three wickets fall for as many runs (72 for 5 to 75 for 8) left Gonzalez, who was constructing a careful knock, in real danger of running out of partners. Balban, coming in at 9, did a good job of helping to stabilise the innings and these two put on a ninth wicket partnership of 59. This pair put the Portugese bowlers under pressure but, realistically, their efforts had come too late to provide any real threat to the total. When Gonzalez fell with 42 at 134 for 9, the game really was up and Balban who finished with a creditable 23 n.o. and the incoming Stephenson marked time to see out the overs, finishing on 143 for 8. Gonzalez (42) and Balban (23 n.o.) provided the only partnership worth the name for Gibraltar but Hudson (21) also made a useful contribution to complement his sparkling bowling performance. Only one other Gibraltarian made it to double-figures with Johnson contributing 10. Again, the opening bowling partnership for Portugal did well, making in-roads into the Gibraltar batting early on with Shazad (2 for 21 off 10 overs) and particualrly Mehdi (1 for 9 off 10 overs) proving both accurate and economical. Bagvane's 2 for 19 off 10 overs completed a good all-round personal performance. Butt also took a couple of wickets with 2 for 17 off 10 overs in a useful spell. Maughi was the other wicket taker with 1 for 24 off 5 overs. All in all it was a fairly comfortable victory for the Portugese who, after a few early wickets, looked more than comfortable in defence of their total, despite a creditable rally towards the bottom of the Gibraltar innings.