National Counties XI Continue Winning Ways in European Championship

National Counties XI maintained their unbeaten record in the Dream 11 European T10 Championship at the Cartama Oval near Malaga with emphatic victories over Cyprus and Romania. 

National Counties, again representing England in the competition they won two years ago, routed Cyprus by eight wickets in their first match of the day then shone under the floodlights by beating Romania by seven wickets. 

The wins secured National Counties’ place at the top of Group E and secured them a meeting with second-placed Switzerland in Wednesday’s group play-offs (1pm). 

The winners will progress to the Group E final at 7.30pm with the losers playing the winners of the Malta v Romania eliminator for a place in the final (4pm). 

The Group E winners will progress to Champions Week from October 16 to 20, joining holders Netherlands, hosts Spain, Ireland, Jersey, Italy and the yet-to-be decided winners of Group F. 

In their first match of the day National Counties were utterly ruthless in dismissing Cyprus – who chose to bat first - for just 34 with eight balls of their innings unused. 

With the exception of Wales NC seamer Richard Edwards, National Counties relied on spin to throttle Cyprus with Buckinghamshire slow left-armer Conner Haddow taking three wickets in three legitimate balls in his first over. 

Preetaj Deol chipped the first to David Scott at point, Haddow then bowled a wide and Shoaib Ahmed then followed in identical fashion to Deol. 

Cyprus captain Tejwinder Singh flailed at his first ball and chipped to Cam Hemp at cover which left his side in disarray on two for four. 

That quickly became nine for five when Scott Austin scooped another off-side catch to Hemp off Edwards. Although Mangala Gunasekara fired off a couple of defiant shots by lofting Haddow for the only six of the innings then off-driving him for four the resistance did not last long. 

Left-hander Gunasekara, who was the only batter to reach double figures, sliced to backward point where Berkshire’s Toby Greatwood held a superb one-handed running catch 

The introduction of Cumbria left-arm pair Matt Siddall and Freddie Fallows saw the last four wickets go down for six runs in 14 balls. 

Fallows took two wickets in his only overs and Siddall had Muhammad Ikram taken at long-on and last man Hardeep Singh held behind by Dan Lincoln from a steepler. 

National Counties needed just 11 balls to reach their target but the chase was not quite straightforward. 

Scott lost his off stump to Waqar Ali and Fallows flicked a catch to mid-on two balls later before Sam Young thumped two sixes and a four from Singh’s first three balls and then had the bonus of a single after he was dropped at midwicket off the fourth. Hemp clipped the next ball for four to clinch an easy win. 

Siddall followed up with two for seven in his only over against Romania, which completed a good day’s work. 

But it was Greatwood, one of the heroes of the victory over Malta on Monday, who was the most successful bowler, finishing with three for six in his two overs including Romania’s top scorer Rhohit Kumar who was brilliantly caught by Tom Bevan at long-off. 

Edwards set the tone for another outstanding bowling and fielding display from National Counties by bowling a maiden – a rarity in T10 cricket – with his first over of the match to Taranjeet Singh. 

Lincoln’s 36 not out and an unbeaten 25 from Scott saw National Counties home with 14 balls to spare but there were a couple of stumbles on the way to victory. 

Sam Young picked out deep midwicket and Fallows sliced to backward point before Andy Rishton became the first victim for 16-year-old seamer Luca Petre, a native Romanian, when he drove to long-on. 

Scott responded with three sixes and a four in four balls from off-spinner Sukharan Saini before Lincoln lifted Petre over midwicket to make it four wins out of four for National Counties. 

Dream 11 European T10 Championship 

Cartama Oval, Malaga 

First match 

Cyprus 34 (Conner Haddow 3-13), National Counties XI 35-2. National Counties XI won by eight wickets. 

Second Match 

Romania 82-7 (Toby Greatwood 3-6), National Counties XI 85-3 (Dan Lincoln 36 not out, David Scott 25 not out). National Counties XI won by seven wickets.