Kuwait defeated Jersey in a final-over thriller to complete an exciting
game today (Monday) at Pepsi ICC World Cricket League (WCL Div. 6) in
Kuala Lumpur. The two sides faced-off today after rain forced its
fixture to be abandoned yesterday.The teams headed to Kinrara Oval for a 1030 start but heavy rainfall saw
the game delayed but the clouds cleared in time for a reduced-overs
fixture, 39 to be precise, which began at 1345 local time.The top order did not have a great start to the day with Jersey three
down by the 15th over, Abdullah Akhunzada, Saad Khalid and Mohammed
Naseer sharing the spoils. It was then up to captain Peter Gough
alongside Corey Bisson to stabilize the Jersey innings which the duo
did, both scoring half-centuries.Bisson departed on 54, after a call to run from Gough saw the
19-year-old not quite have the pace to make it to his crease in time and
he was run out by Kuwaiti wicketkeeper Sharjeel Tahir. Gough anchored
the team's innings until the 33rd over when he was caught by Mohammad
Amin, while the rest of the Jersey side failed to sparkle with the bat.
In contrast, Kuwait's fast bowler Saad and legbreak bowler Akhunzada
both had good games take three wickets each to leave the side chasing
157 in its 39 overs.After a short break, Kuwait made light work of knocking of the runs in
the afternoon sunshine at Kinrara Oval, Irfan Bhatti and Aamir Javed
contributing 55 runs to the target before Bhatti was dismissed bowled by
Ben Stevens on the last ball of the 10th over.Some good catching in the field saw Aamir and Saad Qamar dismissed off
the bowling of James Faudemer, as things began to look bad for the
Kuwaitis who slipped to 128-6 in the 28th over losing key middle-order
batsmen Saad Khalid, Hisham Mirza and Sibtain Raza for just 34 runs.With 4.2 overs to go, and 20 runs to get, it was up to Naseer and Amin
to try and steer the side home but Naseer departed after being clean
bowled by Charles Perchard. The task of winning the game then fell to
Amin and Akhunzada but Stevens had other ideas and the very next over
clean bowled the former, setting up a thrilling final three overs.Akhunzada was promptly caught at short mid-wicket by Ben Silva off the
bowling of Stevens, who was cleaning up the tail with aplomb, leaving
Sharjeel Tahir and Azmatullah Nazeer to attempt to win the game for the
Division 7 winners. Azmatullah smashed a huge six to bring the target
down to six runs off nine balls, adding to that a couple of quick
singles and the duo needed to strike four runs off the last over to give
Kuwait victory. Despite Jersey's bowlers best efforts Azmatullah and Sharjeel had an
alternative plan and needing just four off the last over the duo needed
just three balls to seal the deal for the team and leaving Gough's
Jersey to ponder another defeat."I thought we performed superbly in the field today and Ben Stevens did
really well to work his way through the Kuwait batting line-up. Corey
Bisson and myself did well batting today, but I know we have the
strength in our top order in Sam de la Haye, Dean Morrison and Ben that
we will bounce back as a batting unit and perform better tomorrow."We really pushed Kuwait and we just need another good day to get
ourselves our first win, both of these first two matches have been tight
and we've shown we've got the skills we just need to finish these games
off with victory now," said the Jersey captain Gough.Kuwait coach Basil Jayawardene added: "I think as a team we're still
getting used to the conditions here in Malaysia and we needed some time
to bed into the tournament. Jersey definitely tested us as a side today
but we managed to finish the game and seal the win with three balls to
spare."Scores in brief after Round 2At Kinrara (39-over fixture)
Jersey 156-8, 39 overs (Bisson 54, Gough 52; Akhunzada 3-22, Saad 3-31)Kuwait 157-9, 33.3 overs (Amir 42; Stevens 3-10, Faudemer 2-17)
Kuwait won by one wicket
Pepsi ICC WCL Division 6 Points Table
| Team | P | W | L | T | N/R | Pts | NRR |
| Malaysia | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | +2.34 |
| Guernsey | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | +1.17 |
| Fiji | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | -0.45 |
| Kuwait | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | -0.638 |
| Jersey | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | -0.148 |
| Nigeria | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | -1.797 |
