Spain suffered once again at the hands of the run rate system and as a result will fight out the fifth-sixth place position with the Welsh outfit Menai Bridge on the final day of the La Manga T-Twenty tournament.
Having won and lost one of their games the day before the Academy side knew they needed a good performance against an unbeaten Waltham side to advance to the semi finals. One again Spain’s batting struggled and they could only put a score of 132 on the board.
Not for the first time in recent matches the bowlers rescued the situation to give the Academy a twenty run victory. That left both Waltham and Spain with two wins from three and twenty points. However, Waltham had a superior run rate, meaning the Academy would have to hope and wait that either Valencia Stallions lost, or that Spain’s run rate ended up superior to the Stallions, after they had finished their match with Freshfields.
Freshfields posted 160 plus to give the Academy some hope of making the semis, but the Stallions were in no mood to slip up and they chased down the total easily with only a few wickets down.
As a result of their hefty win the Stallions leapfrogged Waltham to take first place in Group A with Waltham securing second. Spain were left to rue their misfortune at missing out on the semi finals due to run rate.
This is the second time Spain have been on the wrong end of a run rate decision, having been edeged out of the ICC Division Three title in controversial circumstances in their last last ICC tournament.
Spain will now play Menai Bridge in the 5th-6th play off and Freshfields play Pennydaren for the wooden spoon. The winners of Group B, United will play Waltham, whilst Group A winners Valencia Stallions will entertain Westcroft CC.
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