Kuwait and Germany make it two out of two at Pepsi ICC WCL Div. 8

Kuwait once again showed it was the side to beat at Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 8 (WCL Div. 8) as it defeated Vanuatu in its Group A fixture at Hubara. The locals put on a mammoth total of 401 that was just too great a mountain for the Pacific Islanders to scale.

Meanwhile Germany also continued its good run of form beating fellow European qualifiers Gibraltar by 130 runs in its Group B fixture - Germany captain Asif Khan and team-mate Milan Fernando both scored centuries to secure the victory.

In the other two fixtures of the day, Zambia bounced back from yesterday's defeat to beat Bahamas in Group B while Bhutan made up for yesterday's loss but beating Suriname.

Hosts Kuwait put on a dazzling display with the bat today after winning the toss at Hubara and the decision certainly paid off for Hisham Mirza's side.

Mirza and opening batsman Irfan Bhatti piled on the runs at a rate of knots with the duo putting on a first wicket partnership of 202 before Bhatti was finally dismissed for 111 after a run-out by Andrew Mansale. The Vanuatu team fielded poorly, missing out on eight catches and added to the poor performance with some erratic bowling.

Mirza didn't depart until the side were up to 253, the right-handed batsman being caught by Jonathon Dunn off the bowling of Simpson Obed. The Vanuatu bowling attack just couldn't seem to stem the flow of runs from the hosts and it managed to dismiss the side for 401 in just under 50 overs.

Dunn was the only bowler of note for the Pacific Islanders after he cleaned up the Kuwait tail-enders to finish with figures of 3-14 in just 1.5 overs.

When the time came for Vanuatu to bat captain Andrew Mansale would have been hoping the side could out-perform itself from the previous day's game where Vanuatu had scored its highest ever 50 over score (337).

But sadly, the side's batting could not prevail despite a spirited half-century by Dunn and runs added by Andrew Mansale, Damien Smith and Obed, the team failed to meet the target set by Mirza.

"Cricket's a funny game and Kuwait set us a huge target today and credit has to go to its two centurions. We didn't seem to be able to match them in the runs department and our bowling and fielding wasn't up to scratch today.

"We've all to play for on Tuesday against Suriname as victory could secure us a top two finish in the group which would help when it comes to the qualifying matches," said Mansale.

In the second game of Group A, Bhutan bounced back from its huge defeat to Vanuatu yesterday by beating Suriname in a tightly fought game that saw the South American side fall just 11 runs short of target.

Tshering Dorji's side made a decent total of 182 in its allotted 50 overs with Thinley Jamtsho's 39 and a hard-fought half-century from Manoj Adhikari. Suriname's quick fielding helped it keep Bhutan to just 182 and this was aided by poor running between the wickets by Bhutan - the Asian side's innings featuring four run-outs.

Suriname fell just short of the target despite some strong batting from Bahma Prasad (51) and captain Shazam Ramjohn but struggled against the bowling of Phuntsho Wangdi, the right-arm slow bowler snaffling up 3-40 in his allotted overs.

It will be a relief for Bhutan to have claimed a win today but on Tuesday it will face the in-form Kuwait - a side Bhutan has only faced once before and that ended in a loss for the Bhutanese.

"Things went well for us today particularly in the fielding and catching department," said Dorji, "We held catches, kept things tight so when it came down to them trying to make the runs and meet the target they couldn't because we fielded so much better than yesterday."

"Our top order didn't do so well today when it came to batting but Manoj performed very well and the main thing ahead of Tuesday is that we need to keep things simple. We need to be consistent with our fielding and our batting.

"I think if we can set a good target here and our bowlers pitch it up a bit and get the ball to swing on the flat pitches, we could be in with a chance," he added.

The day didn't start well for Zambia with both its opening batsmen dismissed for just three runs each - both being caught off the bowling of Robert Ford. It was then up to Allan Nsensha and Irfan Patel to steady the ship for the Africans against the Bahamas.

The pair did well and later Sharif Yousuf added 35 runs to the board while young Gladson Kandela put in a spirited 33. Seven of the side were dismissed after being caught by nifty fielding from the Bahamas team and some loose shots by the Zambians.

After the innings break things didn't go well for Bahamas' captain Greg Taylor, who yesterday scored 74, with the wicketkeeper departing for just three runs.

Taylor's brother Mark attempted to keep things ticking over for the side but the Zambian bowling attack was simply too tight for the men from the Caribbean. It took Mark 106 balls to reach 30 runs before he was caught and bowled by Mohmed Mitha.

The lone voice of Zambian twelfth man Kafumu Banda yelled out constantly from the sidelines for just one more wicket and with that more than one wicket fell, much to Banda's delight. Mark Taylor departed fifth and the next five wickets fell for just 60 runs despite the vocal support from the Bahamas sidelines.

Some tight bowling from Gladson Kandela (3-24) along with Mitha and Godfrey Kandela saw Zambia defeat the Bahamas by 76 runs.

Zambia's coach Peter Kirsten was particularly pleased with the way his senior players performed today: "We played well yesterday against Germany but we didn't execute our batting to the fullest but after some hard work by the coaching team last night and a bit of a bad start with the batting this morning the senior players really came to the party today with the bat.

"We've got some good youngsters coming through to accompany the seniors and we always know that if we can put over 200 on the board and bat out the 50 overs we're in with a good chance of victory and that's what happened today."

Kirsten was also pleased with the performance of man of the match Gladson Kandela. "Gladson was the under-19 captain recently and he's a good performer with both the bat and ball, as today showed. He's definitely the spearhead opener of our bowling attack now and after today's tactics paid off I think our group is wide open," added Kirsten.

Finally, in the second Group B match - Germany beat European rivals Gibraltar by an impressive 130 runs despite a spirited 99 by Christian Rocca the total was just too great for the team.

Germany opening batsman Fernando became the third person to score a hundred on day two of the tournament and he was joined not long after by his captain and team-mate Khan who also reached triple figures.

Gibraltar had thought it was off to a great start when it dismissed Dilshan Rajudeen for a duck after he was caught off the bowling of Matthew Hunter. Rajudeen's departure bought captain Khan to the crease and alongside Fernando the duo put on a huge second-wicket partnership of 262 runs before the opener departed for 151.

Having been set the target of 364 runs, Rocca came out with the determination to lead his side to victory but the veteran batsman was the only batsman who made a major impact on the total with his 99 runs.

Mark Bacarese, Ross Harkins and wicketkeeper Richard Buzalgo all added runs to the board but ultimately the target was too great, coupled with Germany's Shakeel Hassan's bowling, the spin bowler took 4-43, meant Rocca's men fell short of the mark for the second time in a row in this tournament.

Tomorrow is a rest day with play resuming on Tuesday.