Portugal v Spain at Corfu – European Championship Division Two Twenty20 (Group A) – Match Update
Spain’s http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Tariq-Ali-c92775 scored his second century of the day to guide his team to yet another victory on September 4, this time over Portugal by 75 runs, during their Group A match of the ongoing European Championship Division Two Twenty20, at Maessonghi on the picturesque Greek island of Corfu.
Spain won the toss and elected to bat first, kicking off their innings with Armaghan http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Khan-c71319 (26) and Tariq Ali (148). Their opening stand yielded 53 runs, after which the former was taken out of the game by Portugal’s Muhammad Mirza (4-0-61-2).
He was followed to the crease by wicketkeeper batsman James http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Morgan-c77707, who was unable to manage a contribution beyond 7 runs, before becoming Mirza’s second victim of the day (although he did team up with Tariq Ali for a 38-run stand).
Christian Munoz-Mills (30) set up the winning partnership of the day, a 135-run stand with centurion Tariq Ali, which got the team up to 226 after which the latter was dismissed by Intesab Medhi (2-0-23-2).
From there onwards, the batting performances remained mediocre at best, with Farhat Mahmood (17) remaining the only batsman of note, and Spain eventually posted a final total of 248 by the end of 20 overs.
Portugal made valiant efforts but were unable to manage a successful 249-run chase, cut off at 173 owing largely to Spain’s Talat Nadeem (4-0-24-3), despite a half-ton from Bilal Safdar (82).
The top order remained fairly unremarkable – openers Jose Pais (11) and skipper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Zafar-Ali-c98403 (0). However, the team found some respite in a 117-run 5th-wicket stand between wicketkeeper batsman Rizwan Khaliq (40) and Safdar, which got Portugal up to 159.
Following the dismissals of both batsmen, the team limped forward, but were unable to complete the chase. Syed Bukhari (6*), http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Syed-Tariq-Aziz-c92380 (2), and Khalil Izaz (5*) all failed to bring their side back on track, and Portugal eventually finished at 173 by the end of 20 overs, at the expense of 7 wickets – 75 runs short of the target.
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