SPAIN 124 FOR 4 BEAT GREECE 121 ALL OUT BY 6 WICKETS:
Spain started their Division 2 campaign in the best possible fashion with a comfortable 6 wicket victory over Greece.
The players were taken from their hotel in Dusseldorf to the picturesque ground at the Bonn International School that boasts the Rhine River just beyond the boundary ropes.
On a sunny but cloudy day Greece won the toss and elected to bat. The Spanish openers Girling and Sunderland started well and it was not long before Sunderland had bowled both openers and Greece were reeling for 4 for 2 off 5 overs. Liam Benn and Spyridion Kavvadias consolidated for Hellas before Sivier was introduced into the attack and disposed of the dangerous Kavvadias for 34 with the score on 6. The middle order of Greece collasped somewhat soon afterwards and when Benn departed with the score on 95 Greece were down to their last 2 wickets. Resistance from Michael Trigatzis and Niko Bouuzis took the score to a final score for the Greeks to 121 with their last wicket (Trigatzis) run out off the last ball off their allocated 40 overs.
Spain started brightly and rode their luck as the Greeks grounded several chances off the bowling of Benn and Mazism respectively. Sivier batted aggressively to score a quickfire 25 off 26 balls in an innings that included the only six of the game and three fours. When he departed Spain had raced to 47 off 7 overs before Garside fell for 3 in the same over to Mazis leaving the Spaniards on 52 for 2.
Seekings went cheaply before captain Munoz joined opener Brook to put on 59 between them before Munoz fell 2 runs short of victory for a competent 25. It was left to all-rounder Winter to hit the winning run and give Spain that all important victory in the first match of this years Division 3 tournament.
Spain have a rest day tommorrow and then play the other group winners of today Belguim at the new venue of Bochum on Monday.
Spanish Squad waiting to bat against Greece
SCORECARD
GREECE WON TOSS AND ELECTED TO BAT
KYRIOS KRAFTSENCO BOWLED SUNDERLAND 1
GEORGIOS MAZIS BOWLED SUNDERLAND 2
LIAM BENN CAUGHT SUNDERLAND BOWLED GARSIDE 21
SPYRIDON KAVVADIAS CAUGHT EADINGTON BOWLED SIVIER 34
IODAMUIS VASILLAS BOWLED SIVIER 8
STYLIONOS MIHALAS BOWLED WINTER 2
GEORGE TRIGATZIS BOWLED GARSIDE 1
ARISTARCHOS POLYMERIS BOWLED WINTER 0
MICHAEL TRIGATZIS RUN OUT (EADINGTON) 3
NIKOU BOUZIS BOWLED GIRLING 6
NIKO PANAJOTI NOT OUT 0
SUBTOTAL 79
WIDES (1 WIDE COUNTS AS 2 RUNS) 32
NO BALLS 6
BYES 4
TOTAL 121 FOR 10 OFF 40 OVERS
FOW 1-3, 2-4, 3-62, 4-80, 5-93, 6-95, 7-95, 8-96, 9-121, 10-121
BOWLING
B GIRLING 7-1-11-1
J SUNDERLAND 7-1-14-2
M GARSIDE 8-3-16-2
C MUNOZ 4-0-19-0
B SEEKINGS 5-0-24-0
A SIVIER 5-0-18-2
M WINTER 4-0-15-2
SPAIN
J BROOK NOT OUT 24
A SIVIER CAUGHT POLYMERIS BOWLED MAZIS 25
M GARSIDE CAUGHT GEORGE TRIGATZIS BOWLED MAZIS 2
B SEEKINGS CAUGHT MICHAEL TRIGATZIS BOWLED KAVVIDIAS 0
C MUNOZ CAUGHT POLYMERIS BOWLED VASILLAS 25
M WINTER NOT OUT 4
S EADINGTON DNB
J COBB DNB
T FOSTER DNB
J SUNDERLAND DNB
B GIRLING DNB
SUBTOTAL 80
WIDES (COUNT AS 2 RUNS) 40
NO BALLS 4
TOTAL 124 FOR 4 WICKETS OFF 21 OVERS
BOWLING
L BENN 4-0-25-0
G MAZIS 6-0-40-2
S KAVVADIAS 5-0-27-1
G TRIGATZIS 2-0-13-0
I VASSILAS 4-0-19-1
SPAIN WON BY 6 WICKETS
MAN OF THE MATCH ON THE DECISION OF THE UMPIRES:::
ANDRE SIVIER (MADRID AND SPAIN)
France v Germany at JHQ1 Moenchengladbach.
France won by 40 runs
France won the toss
France 217-7 (40 overs) U Khan 72
Germany 177 (38.2 overs) S Liyanaarachchi 4-21, U Khan 3-13
Isle of Man v Italy at Bochum.
Italy won by 10 wickets
Isle of Man won the toss
Isle of Man 52 (28.4 overs) RS Abeywikrama 5-6 incl. hat-trick, D Sarnelli 3-20
Italy 53-0 (15.3 overs)
Belgium v Gibraltar at JHQ2 Moenchengladbach.
Belgium won by 80 runs
Belgium won the toss
Belgium 139-8 (40 overs) J Farmiloe 33; J Hatcher 3-19
Gibraltar 59 (24.1 overs) Shaival Mehta 4-9
Hellas v Spain at Bonn.
Spain won by 6 wickets
Hellas won the toss
Hellas 121 (40 overs) S-M Kawadias 34
Spain 124-4 (21 overs)