Sporting Alfas beat Roma Cricket Club last night to join Pak-I-Care in ECL Finals week. Roma had been unbeaten in the Group Stages until the were overcome by a resurgent Alfas team in the ultimate game of Group E.
Earlier in the Group stages both teams had beaten Star (Luxembourg) United Bucharest (Romania) and Zagreb (Croatia) to contest the double chance match. Roma won that so Alfas had to overcome Zagreb once again to get the second chance to qualify in finals week. They won the second v third place match with ease as Jake Sunderland bagged three wickets for just 16 runs to earn the player of the match award.
In the final Alfas took to the field against Roma CC and soon had the Italians on the back foot and stunned as the scoreboard showed 44 for 7 at the end of six overs. A eighth wicket partnership of 16 helped Roma to reach a final total of 73 for 9. Opening bowler Atif Mehmood took three for ten off his two overs, but the four other bowlers (Garry Park, Jake Sunderland, Darren Walker and Paul Quinlan) all chipped in with at least one wicket a piece.
In reply Alfas had a strong power play, reaching 33 before Garry Park departed two balls shy of the end of the third over. Awais Ahmed and D. Cox saw Alfas through to victory with the minimum of fuss, and the Spanish team reachedf the required total with13 balls and nine wickets to spare.
Next week Alfas will join last year’s champions Pak-I-Care and Group winners Hornchurch (England) Farmers (Jersey) Dreux (France) and Beveren (Belgium) in finals week. The winners of Group F (teams representing Ireland, Sweden, Turkey, Portugal and Cyprus) will be the seventh and final team to play in the ECL showpiece.
All matches will take place at the Cartama Oval starting at 11.30 am and admission is free. All welcome !
