Kuwait and Vanuatu crushes its opposition on first day of Pepsi ICC WCL Div. 8

Hosts Kuwait scored victory on the opening day of the first-ever Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 8 (WCL Div. 8) as it defeated Suriname in its Group A fixture at Sulaibiya today (Saturday).

Elsewhere' fellow Group A side Vanuatu piled on a huge total of 337 runs' a target Bhutan failed to reach in its allotted overs' giving the Pacific Island its first taste of victory. While in Group B Bahamas defeated Gibraltar and Germany defeated Zambia.

Suriname began its tournament with a disappointing batting performance being skittled for just 76 runs after a strong bowling performance from Kuwait.

Kuwait?s bowling attach was spearheaded by Mohammed Murad (4-26) and Saad Khalid (4-15) leaving the South Americans in total disarray.

None of the Surinamese managed to make an impact with the bat' with Terbhawan Ranjit (19) and Anthony Seeraj (12 not out) being the only players in the side to make it to double figures. The batting card read badly for Shazam Ramjohn's side with the two players departing for ducks and while two top-order batsman departed for one run each.

When the time arrived for Kuwait the hosts knocked the runs off with ease' using just seven of its allotted 50 overs to reach the target.

Opening batsman Irfan Bhatti led from the front' scoring 46 not out and after losing captain Hisham Mirza for 16 it was up to Abid Chaudhry to finish things off with Bhatti.

Mirza said:It was a dream start for us to begin the tournament with a victory but we can?t be complacent ? Vanuatu are in our group and after their big win today' we need to make sure we?re prepared to face them tomorrow in Hubara.

I couldn't have hoped for a better start for us today and it was good to finish so early so we had time to relax ahead of tomorrow's game where we hope we can also do well.

Meanwhile fellow Group A members Vanuatu made light work of Bhutan's bowlers and later its batsmen.

Captain Andrew Mansale led from the front when his team won the toss and he chose to bat the 22-year-old top-scoring for the Pacific Islanders with a masterful 87 runs in an innings that included three boundaries and six sixes.

Mansale was joined in putting runs on the board by Jonathon Dunn (75)' wicketkeeper Trevor Langa (44) and a star turn from Patrick Matautaava with 79 runs in 43 balls' including seven boundaries and four sixes. The side accrued an impressive total of 337 for nine in its 50 overs in the warm Kuwaiti sunshine.

Despite the big total' Lobzang Yonten performed well with the ball claiming 3-52' the young side were let down by poor fielding throughout its innings.

Matautaava took control of things when it came to Vanuatu?s turn to bowl' claiming four wickets for a mere 11 runs. Vanuatu was strong in the field with the side dismissing seven of Bhutan's batsmen with catches in the field.

Matautaava walked away with the Man of the Match award after Bhutan was dismissed for a meagre 55 runs.

Matautaava said of the victory and winning his first Man of the Match award: ?It feels great to have been able to help the team to our first win of the tournament and to get my Man of the Match award from Tony Hill (from the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires) was pretty cool. But this is only the first game of a long tournament.?

In the Group B fixtures' Germany secured its first win of the tournament over African qualifiers Zambia by just 11 runs.

Zambia won the toss and elected to field and managed to limit the Germans to 128 runs in 41.2 overs ? Rishi Pillai adding the most runs to the total with his 61-ball 39. Meanwhile Mohmed Mitha was the pick of the Zambian bowlers with 3-39 while his teammate Sharif Yousef snaffled up two wickets for 17 runs.

When the time came for Peter Kirsten's men to bat' they simply didn't have the fuel to make it through to the end' falling just 11 runs short of the total.

A hard fought 44 from Ashraf Lulat and a good performance from Abid Patel were not enough to see the African side home with last man in Mitha departing for a duck.

In the second Group B fixture' Gibraltar faced Bahamas and Christian Rocca's men ground out a healthy target of 214 for the side from the Caribbean to chase.

Gibraltar's Kieron Ferrary performed well with the bat striking 52 runs for the islanders while Mark Bacarese' also helped to add to the total in the heat at Hubara.

Bahamas bowlers didn?t have a great day in the field with Dwight Weakley being the most expensive costing the side 42 runs off his eight overs.

Greg Taylor's side knew they had to take to the field with something special to beat Gibraltar and the captain led right from the front with a hard-fought 74 off while his counterpart Mark Taylor also added 46 runs.

The captain earned himself a man of the match award for his innings and he was pleased with the side's batting performance even if the bowling was not as tight as he would have hoped.

It was a magnificent win today as we've been preparing for the last two months for this tournament and to be able to go out onto the field and to start with a win is marvellous as we've not played since Division 5 and thanks has to go to our coach Mohamed Allie for getting us in shape'? said Greg Taylor.

We had a couple of good bowlers today' young Jermaine Adderley and Robert Ford but we allowed them to score too many runs' so we just need to tighten up our bowling as our batting speaks for itself. I decided to lead from the front today and I'm proud of the way my team performed' he concluded.