Spain and hosts Guernsey are top of their respective groups after the penultimate day of round robin play at the third European sub-regional qualifier, but their final destinations in the tournament are out of their hands with other teams still having games in hand.
Spain went top of Group A this afternoon with a win over Greece at Port Soif. Batting first after winning the toss, Greece could only manage 96-9 from their 20 overs, with Yasir Ali taking 3-12. Spain knocked off their target in 13 overs to win by seven wickets, Hamza Dar top scoring with 32 from 24 balls.
Over at KGV, Guernsey bounced back from their surprise loss to Finland yesterday with a dominant victory against Estonia. The Estonians were put into bat and restricted to 99-8, with Habib Khan's 39 their top score. Harry Johnson and Charlie Forshaw both took three wickets. Tom Nightingale then scored 34 from only 16 balls as the home side chased down their target in 12.1 overs to win by five wickets and give themselves a potentially crucial net run rate boost.
Estonia's Arslan Amjad makes a spectacular - but unsuccessful - attempt to catch Tom Nightingale (Martin Gray)
Earlier at KGV, Malta batted first against Bulgaria and after starting with a wicket maiden managed to score 211-2 from their 20 overs. Basil George top scored with 103 from 63 balls for his first T20I century, with Jaspal Singh hitting 50 from 28 balls, bringing up his fifty from the last ball of the innings.
Basil George celebrates his century (Martin Gray)
Bulgaria quickly found themselves on 14-3 in reply and never recovered from there. Milen Gogev provided a moment of levity after bringing up his maiden T20I fifty with a six, taking a balloon out of his pocket and blowing it up to celebrate the moment. His was the top score as Bulgaria made 150-8, losing by 61 runs.
At Port Soif in the morning, Cyprus chose to bat first against Czechia but were bowled out for 67 with only two batters reaching double figures. Muralidhara Vandrasi was the pick of the bowlers with 4-25 and Naveed Ahmed took 3-8. Czechia almost made a meal of their reply, but hung on to win by four wickets with two overs to spare thanks to an unbeaten 30 by Martin Worndl.
Tomorrow is a rest day with the round-robin stage reaching the business end on Tuesday. Denmark's net run rate position is such that a likely win over Cyprus will see them go past Spain and secure their place in the final in the morning session. The other Group A match between Czechia and Greece is a dead rubber as far as qualification goes.
Guernsey's net run rate position at the top of Group B is a little less secure. Finland get first crack at passing it when they take on Bulgaria in the morning, whilst Estonia will play Malta in the afternoon.
