Hosts Jersey marched to their first-ever European championship on Monday with a 116-run victory over Italy at FB Fields to finish the five-match tournament undefeated.
Winning the toss and electing to bat, Jersey were set on the road to a clean sweep by a stand of 131 for the second wicket by Dean Morrison, the tournament’s leading run-scorer, and Ryan Driver. Driver was the first to go, stumped by Hayden Patrizi off Andy Northcote for a 90-ball 53, and his partner soon followed in identical fashion, having made 77 off 103 deliveries with nine fours and a six.
Peter Gough weighed in with 47 from 48 balls, but Gayashan Munasinghe (three for 46) and Dilan Fernando (four for 49) bit back for Italy, and Jersey were all out two balls before the end of their scheduled fifty overs for 231.
Driver was not finished, however, and with three quick wickets he soon had the Italians reeling on 23 for three. Northcote and Michael Raso, the latter his side’s most reliable batsman throughout the week, produced a partial recovery, but with Ben Stevens, James Faudemer and Peter Gough picking up two wickets each Italy were dismissed for 115, just short of halfway to their target.
Driver ended with three for 23 to go with his half-century, and took the Man of the Match award.
The battle for second place between Ireland A and Scotland A at Grainville resulted in victory for the former, as they chased down the Scots’ total of 235 for nine to win by four wickets with a couple of overs to spare.
Scotland were given a good start by Freddie Coleman (38), Ryan Flannigan (42) and Ewen Chalmers, but the middle order was unable to capitalise fully on their efforts, and it took some hard hitting from Sean Weeraratna and Marc Petrie in the closing overs to get the total up to something defensible on a day which clearly favoured the batsmen.
Albert van der Merwe was again the most successful of the Irish bowlers with three for 34, while Gary Kidd bowled an economical ten-over spell, conceding 32 runs without taking a wicket.
Reinhardt Strydom and Niall McDonnell got their side off to a solid start in an eight-over session before lunch, and after the interval both batsmen went onto the attack. Together they put on 90 in 18 overs, but after McDonnell departed for 38 Strydom began to play more cautiously.
Scotland stuck to their task, but as long as Strydom was there they were always on the back foot, and gradually he started to raise the tempo again. He and Roddy McCann added 54 for the sixth wicket, and Strydom reached his century in the 46th over.
He went on to 108, made off 122 balls with ten fours and two sixes, before he was caught behind, but by this time only seven runs were needed for victory, and these were soon knocked off by McCann, who finished on 32 not out, and Van der Merwe.
A depleted Netherlands A side completed what has often been a disappointing week with a fine victory over Denmark, moving into fourth place in the process.
The architect of their win was Tom Heggelman, who posted the first century of the competition with a splendid 128, made off 153 deliveries with 17 fours and two sixes. He was involved in two century partnerships, the first of 104 with his captain Tim Gruijters (48), and the second of 122 with Tom de Grooth, who also made 48.
Not content with this achievement, Heggelman claimed Denmark’s first wicket in his second over as they set out in chase of the Dutch total of 268 for five, and then came back to finish it off by taking the last as the Danes were all out for 251, just 18 short of their target.
That they came so close was due to half-centuries from brothers Michael and Carsten Pedersen, and another from Jacob Larsen. Michael Pedersen top-scored with 70, made from 114 balls with six fours, while Carsten made 57 and Larsen 51. The two brothers put on 81 for the fourth wicket, and Carsten Pedersen and Larsen added another 55, but with Adam Woutersen and Mattijs Luten collecting three for 51 and three for 40 respectively the task ultimately proved just too great for the Danish batsmen.