Greece v Sweden at Corfu – European Championship Division Two Twenty20 (Group B) – Match Update
Sweden claimed a narrow victory over Greece during their Group B match in the ongoing European Championship Division Two Twenty20 being played in Corfu, as they beat their opponents by a margin of one wicket on September 4 at the Ropa Valley No 1 Ground.
Sweden won the toss and elected to field first, with Greece opening their innings with Aslam Mohammad (11) and Anastasios Manousis (9). Their opening stand did not proceed beyond 13 runs, and Abdul Jalali stepped in to break it up, sending Manousis back
to the pavilion, caught out by skipper Yasir http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ikram-c64153.
Aslam Mohammad followed soon after, dismissed by Aman Momand (4-0-15-2), but the duo of Alexis Souvlakis (11) and wicketkeeper/skipper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Nic-Pothas-c2100 (42*) managed to post a combined total of 30 runs on the board, which steadied the team total to some extent.
Souvlakis became Momand’s second victim of the day, and his successor Mehmood Ahmed contributed only 3 runs before he was stumped by wicketkeeper Sadat Sidiqi off Azam Khalil. However, Pothas teamed up with Andreas Koutsoufis (29*) for an unbeaten 50-run
5th-wicket stand which got the team up to 114 by the end of 20 overs, at the expense of 4 wickets.
Sweden’s top order put in mediocre performances, while the middle and lower order failed to fire at all – nevertheless, the multiple small contributions enabled the side to reach 115 by the final over, with just one wicket remaining.
Openers Shahid Mustafa (22) and Sadat Sidiqi (41) teamed up for the highest partnership on their side – a 40-run opening stand which came to an end as Koutsoufis trapped http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-c89347 Mustafa, lbw.
Sunny Sharma (13) and Ashik Imtiaz (10) chipped in with mediocre scores, and from there onwards, the Swedish batsmen failed to register double-digit individual scores.
The Greek bowlers put up a valiant effort – Dimitrios Triantafillidis claimed 3 for 23, while Mehmood Ahmed and Aslam Mohammad managed two each.
However, their efforts went in vain as Sweden managed to get over the finish line at the last minute, eventually finishing at 115, with 9 wickets down and 4 deliveries still remaining.
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