National Counties XI Close In On Finals Day Place in European Championship

National Counties XI closed in on a place in Friday’s Finals Day of the Dream 11 European T10 Championship with a brace of impressive victories over Italy and hosts Spain at the Cartama Oval in Malaga. 

The wins kept National Counties, who are representing England in the 31-nation competition, on top of the Champions Week group table with one more group match – against Ireland XI – on Thursday (10.30am) to come. 

The top four teams in the group will go through to Finals Day with the bottom three flying home. 

National Counties began the day with a comfortable seven wickets victory against Italy and followed up with another perfectly-paced chase in an eight wickets victory against Spain despite being set a stiff target of 142. 

Dorset’s former Somerset batter Sam Young top-scored in both matches for National Counties, with 41 from 12 balls against Italy and 46 from 20 balls against Spain. 

Young shared opening partnerships of 60 and 67 with his captain Dan Lincoln who followed up two half-centuries on Tuesday with aggressive innings of 22 in the opener and 40 from 15 balls against Spain. 

Lincoln won the toss in both matches and, having opted to bowl first on each occasion, he cleverly deployed his bowling resources which were still missing Toby Greatwood and Matt Siddall, both laid low by a sickness bug. 

Against Italy Oxfordshire’s left-arm wrist spinner Tom Hinley took two wickets in his first over and Buckinghamshire slow left-armer Conner Haddow two in his only over – the last of the innings. 

A sixth wicket stand of 59 between captain Joy Perera (51 from 20 balls) and Nishermal Fernando (26) rescued Italy after they were 46 for five in the sixth over but a target of 119 never looked likely to stretch National Counties. 

Young and Lincoln got them more than halfway to the target inside four overs but perished in the space of six balls from seamer Muhammad Arslan. 

But Hinley and Dorset all-rounder David Scott sustained the attack and National Counties got home with 17 balls to spare. 

It was harder work for National Counties against Spain thanks to 62 from 25 balls from the hosts’ captain Daniel Doyle Calle. 

Doyle Calle struck six sixes before he prodded Hinley to backward point which gave National Counties the opportunity to apply the brakes at the end of Spain’s innings. 

Scott took a wicket in each of his two overs but it was Berkshire seamer Andy Rishton who was mostly responsible for keeping Spain below 150 by conceding just six runs in a nerveless final over. 

Young was dropped twice – on one and eight – early on and he made Spain pay for those lapses by striking four sixes and three fours before he was caught behind off Raja Adeel. 

Lincoln had been the main aggressor in the opening partnership – clobbering four sixes and three fours – before he dragged on against Hamza Saleem Dar. 

Hinley and Scott again combined superbly to accelerate National Counties to their fourth win in five games in Champions Week with nine balls to spare in an unbroken third wicket partnership of 40 in 12 balls. 

Hinley finished with 40 not out from 12 balls with five sixes and Scott 14 not out from four balls, two of which went for six. 

Dream 11 European Championship T10 

Cartama Oval, Malaga 

Champions Week – Day Three 

Match one: Italy 118-7 (Joy Perera 51, Nishermal Fernando 26, Conner Haddow 2-13, Tom Hinley 2-29), National Counties XI 119-3 (Sam Young 41, David Scott 24 not out, Dan Lincoln 22). National Counties XI won by seven wickets. 

Match two: Spain 141-4 (Daniel Doyle Calle 62, Muhammad Ihsan 21 not out, David Scott 2-27), National Counties XI 142-2 (Sam Young 46, Dan Lincoln 40, Tom Hinley 40 not out). National Counties XI won by eight wickets.