National Counties XI Book Place in European Championship Champions Week

Berkshire seamer Toby Greatwood bowled National Counties XI into Champions Week of the Dream 11 European T10 Championship by taking a hat-trick in the Group E final against Switzerland at the Cartama Oval in Malaga. 

National Counties, representing England in the 31-nation tournament, had suffered a shock eight wickets defeat against Switzerland in their first qualifying match of the day but Greatwood ensured that there was no repeat of that upset in the final. 

Greatwood, recently released by Middlesex, was given the first over for the first time in the competition and he responded by having Switzerland’s danger man Idrees Haque caught at short fine, Malyar Stanikzai caught behind first ball and then completed his hat-trick when Osama Mahmood lofted him to Tom Hinley at long-off. 

Greatwood added a fourth wicket off the first ball of his next over when Hassan Ahmad was caught behind and he finished with four for 15 in his two overs. 

Wales NC seamer Richard Edwards conceded only two runs in his two overs and although Switzerland captain Ali Nayyer held the innings together with 43 not out, another clinical display from National Counties secured a 63 runs win. 

Skipper Lincoln and Dorset’s Sam Young laid the foundations for National Counties’ total of 138 for five under the floodlights, each making 34, but it was a late onslaught from Dorset all-rounder David Scott that put the final beyond Switzerland’s reach. 

Scott clobbered six sixes – three of them from consecutive balls off Aneesh Kumar - in his 51 not out from just 17 balls. 

National Counties, who won the competition in 2021 and were beaten finalists last year, join defending champions Netherlands plus other group winners Spain, Italy, Ireland and Jersey in Champions Week next week. The final place will go to either Scotland, Portugal, Luxembourg or Germany  who contest Group F from Thursday to Saturday. 

Having lost to Switzerland in their first qualifying match, National Counties had to win Group E the hard way. While Switzerland booked their place in the final, National Counties faced three matches in a row with an additional qualifying match against Malta who had beaten Romania by 19 runs in their eliminator at the start of the day. 

Thanks to a triple wicket maiden from Cumbria slow left-armer Matt Siddall, National Counties side-stepped that banana skin by easing to an eight wickets win against Malta. 

Siddall was held back until the final over of Malta’s innings and took his three wickets in the last four deliveries with three dot balls helping to restrict Malta to 107 for six. 

Young, who was unable to hold on to a difficult chance offered by Zeeshan Khan from Edwards’s first ball of the match, made amends by holding four catches, two of them at long-off from Siddall’s bowling. 

Edwards conceded just two runs from his opening over but Khan and Basil George rode their luck and shared an opening stand of 45 before Khan was taken by Young at deep midwicket off Greatwood. 

George, who made 84 in the first meeting between the sides on Monday, thumped Greatwood for consecutive sixes but then fell to a sharp return catch. 

Darshit Patankar holed out to Young at long off from Hinley’s left-arm spin and Malta decelerated at the end of their innings with just 19 runs coming from the last three overs with their captain Varun Prasath left stranded on 21 not out as he was denied the strike. 

Young launched the chase with a flurry of boundaries – four sixes and three fours in his 37 from ten balls – before he drove to long-off and Hinley soon followed, caught behind off a top-edged pull. 

But Lincoln and Scott made light work of the chase with National Counties getting home with 22 balls to spare with Scott clobbering Imran Ameer for successive sixes to clinch the win and end Malta’s involvement in the tournament. 

The first match of the day is one that the National Counties team will want to forget quickly but which will be remembered for a long time by Switzerland. 

Having been put in – the first time they had batted first in five matches – National Counties struggled for momentum against accurate Swiss bowling. 

Young pulled Ashwin Vinod’s first ball of the match to midwicket, Hinley went to the sixth and when Lincoln picked out deep cover and Scott drove to cover it was 29 for four. 

The Wales NC pair of Cam Hemp and Tom Bevan – contracted to Glamorgan – added 37 for the fifth wicket but they fell in successive overs. 

Vinod returned and dismissed Conner Haddow and Edwards in the final over of the innings and National Counties’ total of 110 for nine always looked at least 20 runs light. 

It was soon made to look inadequate by opener Haque, who struck eight sixes in his 68 not out from 27 balls, which Switzerland home with 20 balls to spare. 

Haque shared a destructive second wicket partnership of 62 with Stanikzai (15) which was broken by Siddall with the scores level. 

Dream 11 European Championship 

Cartama Oval, Malaga 

Qualifier One 

National Counties XI 110-9 (Tom Bevan 23, Ashwin Vinod 4-18), Switzerland 111-2 (Idrees Haque 68 not out). Switzerland won by eight wickets. 

Qualifier Two 

Malta 107-6 (Basil George 42, Matt Siddall 3-0, Toby Greatwood 2-24), National Counties XI109-2 (Sam Young 37, Dan Lincoln 32 not out, David Scott 31 not out). National Counties XI won by eight wickets. 

Group E Final 

National Counties XI 138-5 (David Scott 51 not out, Dan Lincoln 34, Musa Ahmadzai 2-11),Switzerland 75-8 (Ali Nayyer 43 not out, Toby Greatwood 4-15). National Counties XI won by 63 runs.