Global Game: Action-packed Associate cricket week

In Rome’s Spinaceto neighbourhood, the Italians hosted Austria at the Roma Cricket Club, and tasted victory in their first-ever official T20I. After winning the toss, Austria opted to bat and were led to 107/3 from their 20 overs by a patient 33 (60) from star batter Andrea-Mae Zepeda. Italy chased the target at a canter, reaching 108/2 in the 17th over, with captain Kumudu Peddrick unbeaten on 47* (47).

The Austrians fought back the next day in the second T20I as they strangled Italy’s innings, keeping them to 98/6 in 20 overs, before knocking off the chase with seven wickets in hand. They let their chase drift a little, with skipper Ghandali Bapat’s sluggish 19 (35) the top score, but crossed the line in 19.1 overs.

The third day saw the visitors clinch a series victory with two more wins. The morning game was a tense affair, with Zepeda again headlining as she struck 43 (44) to guide Austria to 120/5 in their full allotment. Peddrick hit back for the hosts with Italy’s first T20I half-century (50* off 66 deliveries), and the Austrian bowlers failed to make inroads, but the hosts just couldn’t step up the pace to get ahead of the run rate. Ultimately they fell seven runs short in their full 20 overs, despite only losing three wickets. The afternoon game saw Austria clinch the series with their most dominant display, bundling out Italy for just 73 in 17.1 overs. The chief destroyer was Valentina Avdylaj, who knocked the top off the Italian innings with 4/12, including the first four wickets to fall. In response Austria ambled home by six wickets in the 13th over, with Jo-Antoinette Stiglitz top-scoring with 14 (14).

The final match was another low-scoring thriller, with Italy defending under 100 to claim a consolation win and take the series scoreline to 2-3. Opting to bat, the Italians struggled to 99/5 in their 20 overs, with Peddrick (28 off 37) again anchoring the innings. Sylvia Kailath claimed the best Austrian figures with 1/4, but was outdone by her Italian counterparts Sharon Withanage (2/21 off 4) and Dishani Samarawickrama (2/9 off 4). Ghandali Bapat fought gamely, but a lack of support let her down and when she was run out in the 18th over, the visitors’ chase fizzled and Italy held on to cap their first T20I series with a one-run victory after the full 20 overs.

It was an encouraging outing for both sides, and promising for Italy’s capacity to host international cricket in the future, but with over 300 extras between them (Italy 160 and Austria 143), the two wayward bowling attacks will need to work on their discipline as they push to move up the rankings.

Meanwhile in men’s cricket in Denmark, it was a Scandinavian tussle between the hosts and Jonty Rhodes’ Sweden. Played at Svanholm Park Brøndby, on the outskirts of Copenhagen, the series was Sweden’s debut in T20Is and ended with a 2-1 victory for the hosts. But Sweden, having played their first international cricket for nearly three years, will certainly take some positives from a series where Rhodes experimented with a new-look side.

The first match on Saturday morning was a real statement of intent from the Swedes, who missed out in a tight chase, but shocked Denmark with the ball – seamer Hassan Mehmood grabbed the nation’s first T20I five-wicket haul with 5/14 in his 4 overs to keep the Danes to 111 in the 20th over. Swedish captain Abhijit Venkatesh, one of the few holdovers from the national team’s last match in 2018, provided a base with 27 (33), but lacked support. Needing 11 to win off the last over, Sweden were flummoxed by left-arm seamer Delawar Khan, who nailed his line and length to deny them the runs, and ended the match by knocking back the off-stump of Khalid Zahid and Wynand Boshoff as their wild slogs couldn’t connect.

The afternoon game saw Sweden get home in another thriller, edging over the line on the last ball with just three wickets to spare. Led by star opening bat Hamid Shah’s 66 (56), Denmark posted 135/4 in their 20, with Hassan Mehmood again the pick of the Swedish bowlers with 2/14 off 3. In response, Sweden made steady progress to the target, even as young left-arm orthodox Lucky Ali (3/15 in 4) claimed regular breakthroughs to keep them in check. Wicket-keeper Wynand Boshoff led the way with 32 (30), but when he departed in the 18th over still 20 runs adrift, the Swedes looked set to repeat their earlier near-miss. But a pair of boundaries spanked by number 9, Mir Afzail (13* off 5), helped them to knock off the 14 runs needed from the last over.

Denmark reasserted themselves in the third match, on Sunday, with a comfortable six-wicket chase. Swedish opener Rahel Khan got his side off to a good start with 35 (27), but with the score on 62 after 8 overs he tried for one six too many and holed out on the slog sweep against Lucky Ali. Thereafter, Sweden struggled to regain momentum and limped to 122/9 in their full quota. The Danish response was headlined by a composed 63* (46) from Taranjit Bharaj, who blended boundaries with strike rotation to carry the chase, despite Hassan Mehmood (3/25) again proving a thorn in the Danish side.

And over in Africa, Namibia continued their preparations for the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup by hosting a Zimbabwe development side. The hosts won comprehensively in the first two matches of the T20 leg, with another T20 and three 50-over matches still to play. And with the senior Zimbabwean side on its way to Ireland for an ICC ODI Super League leg, the Emerging XI that travelled to Namibia looked outclassed, with the batting struggling to generate momentum and the bowlers unable to contain the explosive Namibian top order.

The first match on Saturday saw the Zimbabweans limp to 112/8, with tidy spells of 2/5 from Jan Frylinck, 0/10 from Ruben Trumpelmann, and 1/20 from Mauritius Ngupita. Skipper Chamu Chibabha (35 off 35) was the only batter to get more than 20. In response, Namibia rode Zane Green’s powerful 81* (47) to pass the target in the 13th over just 2 wickets down; Green hit 5 sixes (including three consecutively as he ambushed Tadiwanashe Nyangani) in a pleasing demonstration of form after a few months without cricket for the hosts.

The Sunday game was even more dominant for Namibia, as they piled on 254/4, including another quickfire knock of 44 (20) from Green, 77 (50) from veteran allrounder Craig Williams, and an astonishing 93* (29) by the big-hitting JJ Smit, who sent 10 sixes over the rope as he repeatedly unfurled his trademark easy swings over long-on. The defence by Namibia was headlined by a strong outing from promising young legspinner Jan-Nicol Loftie-Eaton, who bamboozled the middle order with 3/5 in his quota of overs as they bundled out the tourists for 122 in 17 overs.

Global Game is a collaboration between the ICC andEmerging Cricket.