World Twenty20 Championships XI - Everything Thread (IC)

by **Mattijana** » Mon Oct 15, 2018 1:49 pm

Mattijana Through to Group Stage After Beating Busoga Islands

MFO SPORT

Busoga Islands 119 (18.4 overs)

Googlov 4-25, Riegler 3-22

Mattijana 121/7 (14.1 overs)

Benzeni 42*, Zackov 27

Mattijana booked their place in the final 12 of the World T20 Championships with a convincing victory over the Busoga Islands in a winner-takes-all encounter in Maynard.

The marmots eventually staggered across the line with 3 wickets remaining, but with a comfortable 5.5 overs to spare, when Jasmina Benzeni thick edged a delivery through a vacant wide third man for 4.

It was the bowlers who ultimately won the match, skittling their opponents for 119 in the space of 18.4 overs on a tricky wicket at the Leewardia Oval. Mattias Googlov's off-spin was particularly effective, the 30 year old taking 4-25 and nearly claiming a five-for when a Busogan tail-ender bottom edged a sweep into the ground and just over the top of the bails.

At the other end, it was Kasenka Riegler's pace that caused problems on a fast deck, the Revinka bowler maintaining a good line and length and beating many batsmen for pace to take 3 wickets. Part time offie Marko Zackov chipped in with a useful 1-14 off his two overs whilst Mattias Karamov and Fredi Glukspiel also claimed one wicket each, the latter aided by a stunning diving catch from Katarina Sava at backward point off a sliced cover drive.

Needing a run-a-ball 120 to win, Mattijana could perhaps afford to get off to the sort of sluggish starts that had cost them in defeats to Darmen and Deyrland. Openers Sava and Julian Illicic instead went for a punchy one off some loose Busogan bowling. Sava hit two sixes off the opening over, but holed out for 15 off her 6th ball when she top-edged a short ball into the hands of the deep square-leg fielder.
Illicic was able to keep his slogging up for a little longer, but was eventually bowled for 26 when a turning ball spun sharply to beat the bat and clatter into the off-stump, leaving the score at 47-2 after 4 overs.
With Mattijana scoring at well above the required rate, number 3 Zackov chose to calm things down by rotating the strike with Jelena Laramazic until the latter nicked behind for 8.

Zackov continued his accumulation with Jasmina Benzeni however and their partnership took the game away from the Busoga islands, with the scoreboard reading 91-4 when Zackov was caught at long-on for 27.
A collapse threatened to follow when Fredi Glukspiel, Jos Illicic and Mattias Karamov all fell cheaply, but Benzeni got the job done alongside Riegler, who finished 5 not out.

The result meant that Mattijana leapfrogged the Busoga Islands to get into the qualifying places and in fact moved up into second head of the Plough Islands on their head-to-head record. Their surprisingly impressive net run rate also meant they recieved the 6th seed for the group stage, top out of all the teams to have won 3 and lost 2 of their qualifying matches.

What Next?

Dominik Maestri's team will now face Barunia, Northwest Kalactin, Liventia, Rooimervania and Eastfield Lodge in group B for a place in the final 4. They start the second part of their bid for glory with a match against Liventia in Greencaster, Ko-oren's largest city. In the other group, the only unbeaten team Darmen will take on world number ones West Phoenicia as well as Elejamie, surprise packages Mughals Royal, the Plough Islands and hosts Ko-oren, who scraped through to the last 12 with a 2-wicket win over Indusse.

Mattijana appear to have got the kinder draw, but Maestri will know his side have work to do in all three departments if they are to improve enough to make the semi-finals, surely the minimum requirement after narrowly missing out last tournament.

Kalactin a stain on tournament?

Without being either at all relevant or a chart-topping hit, the song 'Kalactin is apathetic', released by a synth-pop and probably cannabinoid-influenced band from a Flock of Seagulls has certainly raised some eyebrows.

Northwest Kalactin teams have certainly done likewise with their relatively constant gloating following their championship win in Banija last time out and worryingly for the eardrums of the world, they have been performing well again. The team topped their qualifying group with 4 games won and just the one defeat, earning them the 4th seed for the group stage and unfortunately for Mattijanan eardrums, putting them in the same group as the Marmots.

In a sport where maintaining the spirit of the game is integral, Northwest Kalactin have continously threatened to upset the precious balance with their arrogance, sponsorship by a donut company and some hideously bad sledging. The message sent by the delegation to the younger generation around the world is yet to be worked out, but is most certainly an unhealthy one.

That said, international cricket also has a duty to be inclusive to all nations, an ideal that is currently being stretched to the limit. With a Cricket board clearly focused more on their corporate duties than their moral ones, the GCF may need to consider sanctions against a Kalactinian national body that seem to know very little if anything about the game.

Whether the team itself can spring another surprise on the pitch remains to be seen, but many around the multiverse will be hoping they start to lose a few matches sometime soon.

Whilst many of the world's established sides view T20 Cricket as 'sloggy sloggy', for many up-and-coming nations it is the most viewed format and a gateway to test cricket. Having champions unable to construct a sentence without a simple grammatical or spelling error is a worrying thing for all lovers of the game, not just those involved with T20.

Mattijana will certainly not be the first team to play a match against Northwest Kalactin with a somewhat frosty atmosphere, but they probably won't be the last either. The good news for the marmots is that "you're going down" has rarely proven to be an effective form of psychological warfare.

by **The Plough Islands** » Mon Oct 15, 2018 5:01 pm

on the 14th October 2018, the Plough Islands Gazette wrote:
20-OVER WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP: DARMEN DEFEAT FOXES IN TAME FINAL QUALIFIER
by Denis Wormwood, Sporting Correspondent, in Maynard

Ultimately, the final game of Qualifying Group 4 proceeded perhaps as could have been predicted; a brave Plough Islands side succeeded in containing the Darmeni batting and setting an achievable target, but were simply blown away by excellent fast bowling as the top seeds asserted themselves. Kevin Laing's side had already secured qualification and had their minds partially occupied by the need to avoid further injury concerns at the end of a gruelling first phase of the competition, and not for the first time, the Foxes' teamsheet had an unfamiliar look to it, as coach Lourens Hendricks tried to balance the fitness of his key players. Shauna Weaver did not feature after having to be helped from the ground against Deyrland, while Colin McCarthy did not start as a precautionary measure after failing to complete his overs in the same game. Tim Bleasdale came in as a standalone batsman after Rory Aliyev was unable to recover from a stomach bug in time for the game, and Matthew Davy came in to open the batting with Graeme Holt - reuniting the Foxes' Test match opening partnership that produced 1644 runs from ten matches.
The match began in spectacular style for the travelling Plough Islanders; Andrew Baxter's first delivery skirted the edge of Vinnie Acker's bat and caught the Darmeni opener on the pad for a golden duck and triggered euphoria among the Foxes faithful. Darmen recovered, though, the number one seeds scoring relatively quickly on a surprisingly good Maynard pitch considering the amount of use it had received; captain Sigmund Winter lit the path with a quickfire 20 before offering a simple return catch to Davy, but Theudofrid Milligan proved to be far more settled and resisted attempts to dislodge him, though Baxter (2-33), Leggett, and Salisbury - the latter pair recording identical figures of 1 for 24 off 4 - kept the rotation of batsmen reasonably steady to and from the Darmeni bench. Milligan eventually found himself stranded in the middle after a mixup with Ionathan Odell, and departed for 42, but late innings efforts by Odell (22), wicketkeeper Adelfuns Armbruster (21), and a seven-ball unbeaten 12 from Corwin McAlister helped Darmen to 145 by the end of their 20 overs.
The Foxes began their reply with the reunited Holt and Davy staying together for just two overs, although there were some signs of their experience as they stole some unlikely runs before Holt skied Darmen's Alf Dickenson to Odell over on the square leg boundary. What followed, as Winter played Dickenson and fellow pacer Kieran Rosenfeld from opposite ends continuously, was to neutrals an action-packed thrilling half hour of attacking cricket, but to the Plough Islands it was a massacre. Audrey Leggett (14) and captain Laing (12) tried to take the game to the Darmeni fielders with some swipes towards the boundary, but the pacers varied their approach cunningly and deliberately and both were gone within ten balls of their arrival, and Davy and Bleasdale could not even get that far; at one point, Darmen came perilously close to a hattrick, as Leggett holed out to second slip and Bleasdale mistimed his shot to be caught lbw by Rosenfeld, only for the Romanopolis quick to run out of allotted balls to bowl. With half the match gone, the Foxes were on 54 for 6 and staring into the abyss of defeat.
Mercifully, however, the Darmeni pacemen were out of overs shortly afterwards, and Winter began to set defensive fields with several men further towards the boundary; the schedule had clearly taken a measure of a toll on the opponents as well, and they seemed to lack the energy and reserves at the end of a long group stage to make the victory certain. With the Foxes on the brink in any case, and the form of Lebed and Adam Kalantas suggesting they were unlikely to mount an epic comeback, the situation probably suited both parties, and the rather odd situation ensued of the remaining overs being played out almost as a contractual obligation, with Darmen's spinners and medium pacers sending down difficult but not impossible deliveries and Kalantas and Lebed working the bad ones to keep the scoreboard going without too much effort.
Had this not been a match where little was at stake except pride, this might have caused some concern among the spectators, but instead the atmosphere devolved into something like a Harrison Cup match; the conversation in the stands of the Leewardia Oval turned to travel plans for the next few days and potential group stage opponents, everything around the match without actually including it. Focus returned to the action in the centre of the field only when Kalantas failed to get into position to defend a drifting ball from McAlister and was judged lbw for 16 - he and Lebed having by this point contributed about a third of the Foxes' total - which brought in Ashe to make a two-over cameo highlighted by a pair of fours well taken from successive Gardenar balls. The match, and the Foxes' time in Maynard, drew to a close with Ashe on a well-earned ten and Lebed top scoring with 22 as the Plough Islands came up 40 runs short, on 105 for 7.
Back in the pavilion, Laing admitted his overriding emotion was one of relief - "it could have been a total rollover but it was not, and you take any little victories where you can find them" - and praised his players for the persistence that saw them see out the innings. Baxter was similarly sanguine and gracious, although in truth the scoreline left little other option; "I think it was a good pitch to bowl pace on, it was working well for me earlier on, but it did not deteriorate quite as much as I thought - and if you could bottle whatever Rosenfeld and Dickenson have been drinking, you would be in good health for years to come!". The group stage was weighing heavily on the team's minds as well, with the draw taking place later in the evening; however, Laing told this author that the main concern within the Foxes' camp was whether they would be able to field a competitive team for the rest of the event with the players they had brought. The result meant the Plough Islands finished third in the six-team group - behind Mattijana thanks to the opening defeat, after the Marmots edged a tense encounter with the Busoga Islands - and now travel to either centrally located Willowbourne or the coastal metropolis of Greencaster to face the other group qualifiers; the format does not separate teams using any other criteria than record in the tournament thus far, so it is possible for the Foxes to meet Darmen or Mattijana again.
Regardless of destination, the Foxes left the hitherto welcoming Leewardia Oval with a sense of some unease given the manner of their defeat and the challenges they knew lay ahead, but also a certain serenity in the sense that the competition was not yet over. For a team that had openly not intended to take the suspect 20-over format seriously, there was a wry satisfaction in being confirmed among the twelve best teams in the world at it at this moment in time; perhaps captured best by the ever-straightforward Leggett remarking between innings to Plough Radio that "we are in the next round and we are just making it up as we go along - how does that work?". How it works has been a combination of luck, commitment, and plain Plough Islander collective will, and today was, perhaps, the ultimate proof that those ingredients can - and do - carry us far no matter what bruises we pick up on the way. Half the world has been left to pack their things and leave, but the Foxes progress ever onwards.

on the 14th October 2018, the Plough Islands Gazette wrote:
PREVIEW: OLD FRIENDS AND NEW FOES IN GROUP STAGE
by Ian Goswell, Chief Cricket Correspondent for Plough Radio, in Maynard

After five games, three wins, and about the same number of potentially tournament-ending injuries, the Foxes have perhaps surprised even themselves by progressing to the next stage of this competition - captain Kevin Laing reflecting that "We came out here to have a nice break and get a little bit of experience, but it has all become rather a bit serious...". The unexpected train of success will take the Plough Islands on a short trip upriver to the central city of Willowbourne, and the Royal Oval, best known to ourselves as the venue of a second-innings top-order collapse that saw the Foxes lose their ill-fated Test series 3-1 to the Dragonflies. There will be a number of opportunities to put that from our minds over the next few days, against opponents both old and new;

West Phoenicia: One of the joys of international sporting competition is that, ever since the ancient Olympiads of Athens, competitors from all the nations and races of the world have had a channel to interact and form bonds that transcend boundaries of class or politics and remind each other, and the entire world, how we are all sentient beings equal in dignity no matter our differences. It is precisely this ideal of sport which is, sadly, entirely unrepresented by West Phoenicia; even leaving aside the issues of their domestic affairs - and there are otherwise calm members of the Foxes' squad who have become very passionate when speaking of the socially backwards society and repression practiced within their borders - the conduct of their travelling supporters has been poor during the qualification stage, a fire fuelled by what is unfortunately the arrogant and inflexible attitude of the West Phoenician press.
Despite all this, the Lightning Bolts have performed well thus far in the tournament, losing only to Eastfield Lodge, and almost certainly present the Foxes with their toughest match of the competition so far. It will be a test of Laing's team's fielding against a team with one of the highest run rates of the tournament thus far, and a test of their willpower and confidence against a side that appears to genuinely believe their bowling attack is powered by faerie dust and white hoods.

Elejamie: Elejamie's record in this tournament is one of binary inconsistency; they dominated the ninth edition in Damukuni but failed to win more than a single game in the Busoga Islands, although their run in Ko-oren has been steady and unspectacular thus far.
Elejamie are the other team in the group who have primarily relied on spin bowling, with only a couple of pacemen in their squad, and this will likely be a game between two teams with very similar styles (and - frustratingly for the press - uniforms, the only major difference being black replacing amber for the Elejamians), but otherwise entirely unfamiliar with each other - the Foxes will have to be wary, particularly as this game will likely set up the remainder of the group stage as either a race to the semi finals or a fight to avoid the wooden spoon.

Mughals Royal: The general feeling among players and press alike is that this slot in the group stage - occupied as it is by yet another anonymous, faceless, identikit team, this one in blue - would, in a fair world, have been occupied by either Apox, whose attacking qualities and high regard for the game are well known to Foxes fans, or Teusland, whose collective enthusiasm and the spirit they showed to upset a strong Liventia side hinted at greater things to come.
With the 20-over game coming down as it does so often to random chance, though, the Apoxians and the Edelweiss are sailing home and in their place is this team of nameless mutes. While results have gone their way thus far, and Laing and Hendricks will be endeavouring to treat the game as any other, this will be most frustrating for supporters and commentators on the game, who have little option but to accept the situation and reach for the abridged scorecards.

Ko-oren: Our genial hosts may have been fortunate to have reached the group stage, but many cricket fans - Plough Islander, Ko-orenite, and neutral - have set aside time in their diaries to follow this game, such is the anticipation of the wider cricketing world for a meeting that already carries a sense of history about it. The Test series the Foxes contested, and ultimately endured, on these shores earlier in the year is well documented, but less illuminated are the cooperation and friendship that developed between the cricketing authorities and fans of both nations during both our visits, and there is much to anticipate from what will almost certainly be a good-natured and competitive match.
Many of the Ko-orenite faces will be familiar, as will their style, but Ko-oren have a strong pedigree in limited overs cricket, having won the eighth 20-over championships in Liventia, and on home soil and with not enough time for Graeme Holt to score a double century they will pose a considerable danger. However, the Dragonflies have struggled for form in this tournament and their batting has come under considerable criticism from their own press; this could potentially open the metaphorical door for the Foxes' spin attack to cause an upset. Regardless of the result, though, the hospitality of the tournament organisers will live long in the memory and be gratefully reciprocated should they wish to tour us in 2019 for some proper cricket.

Darmen: The group stage (and potentially the tournament) finishes in the same way as the qualification stage, and there is not a great deal to say about an opponent who are already rather too familiar to the Foxes, having convincingly proven their tournament credentials today. The only thing that may be different will be the stakes, and potentially the Foxes' teamsheet; with the schedule remaining the same in the face of all logic, Laing has openly admitted the Plough Islands might be forced to apply for special dispensation to use extra players in order to see out the tournament in a slightly competitive form.

Almost unanimously, the players and supporters that have travelled from the islands had not expected to make it to this stage; the underlying assumption had been that the teams with resources to dedicate and priorities to distort to focus on the 20-over format would prevail, and the Foxes would gain valuable tournament experience they could use in 'real' cricket but nothing more. However, it has proven to be something of a triumph of collective spirit in the face of nations hundreds, if not thousands, of times bigger than the Commonwealth, and Laing and the Plough Islands Cricket Association deserve fully the appreciation they have received for guiding our small country to respectability and validation against the millions of the Busoga Islands and Damukuni, in addition to their Test exploits.
However, the upcoming fixtures will be the ultimate test of the Foxes' resilience and strength in depth; the latter resource at risk of being bled dry by a punishing schedule. There will be a hundred and forty thousand hearts willing the team on, but luck and heart will be only part of the puzzle against some of the world's best teams in this compressed form of the sport; the skills of Laing's team will need to shine through as well, and many more performances on the level of Shauna Weaver's batting and Sarah Ashe and Naomi Salisbury's game changing wickets will be needed if the aim is to be to win. But on the very base level of comparing the current situation with expectations, the Foxes have already won - won the respect of the world, and won the experience they sought. Like the virtual reality topiaries at Maynard's Experimental Gardens, everything beyond mere presence from now is just a pleasant and gratefully received surprise.

PLOUGH ISLANDS CRICKET ASSOCIATION
XI FOR 20 OVER GAME VS.  WEST PH'A

        PLAYER           BAT   BOW
#9  G   Holt             LHB      
#12 AC  Leggett          RHB   RLB
#15 SLC Weaver           RHB   RLB
#2  RP  Aliyev           RHB      
#1  KCT Laing (c)        RHB   RMD
#5  TM  Bleasdale        RHB      
#10 AA  Kalantas         LHB      
#11 IT  Lebed (w)        LHB      
#3  S   Ashe             RHB   ROB
#4  A   Baxter           RHB   RFS
#14 NA  Salisbury        LHB   SLA

TOURNAMENT STYLE MODIFIER:   - 2.5

by **West Phoenicia** » Tue Oct 16, 2018 4:34 am

Memo to Plough Islands... We will help you pack!

With the Lighting Bolts first group stage match against The Plough Islands Foxes looming; Lighting Bolts captain Jack Tennessee had these wise words to say, " You won't make the semis. If you haven't started packing yet, our servants will happily pack your bags now."

The scatching remark was made in a press conference Jack Tennessee gave earlier in the day after a news article by Plough Islands Sporting Correspondent Denis Wormwood became public knowledge in The Confederate Empire of West Phoenicia.

In the taking article it cited;

West Phoenicia: One of the joys of international sporting competition is that, ever since the ancient Olympiads of Athens, competitors from all the nations and races of the world have had a channel to interact and form bonds that transcend boundaries of class or politics and remind each other, and the entire world, how we are all sentient beings equal in dignity no matter our differences. It is precisely this ideal of sport which is, sadly, entirely unrepresented by West Phoenicia; even leaving aside the issues of their domestic affairs - and there are otherwise calm members of the Foxes' squad who have become very passionate when speaking of the socially backwards society and repression practiced within their borders - the conduct of their travelling supporters has been poor during the qualification stage, a fire fuelled by what is unfortunately the arrogant and inflexible attitude of the West Phoenician press.

Team Captain Jack Tennessee said the article was typical fake news aimed at West Phoenicia by a nation with a state run media. Where objective reporting is a thing of the past since the British abandoned the little island. Plough Island media personalities are nothing more than Muppets with the government hand up them moving the mouth and pulling the puppet strings.

West Phoenicians Minister of Truth Tanya Thorne said "That's to be expected from a one party government. We may not be perfect but we have 20 political parties in our tricarmal government , voted by the people to represent one of the most loveable , wealthy and fair empires in the world. We value a free society of people who do not have to live in fear of the government, where the wealthy are not judged by the unwashed masses or nuclear fall out." Minister Tanya Thorne finished also taking a dig at their opponents ownership of nuclear weapons.

Meanwhile Minister of Arts, Honey Baroda. A member of the Aristocracy Party who are part of a coalition government added. " We aristocrats love a good fox hunt. Let us not fling back petty insults, let our retribution for a fake news article be dealt with on the cricket ground. Where our Lighting Bolts will strike. Let the best team win!!!"

by **Darmen** » Tue Oct 16, 2018 8:13 am

Excellent Milligan propels Darmen through to second Group Stage

Opponent       Result                       Runs Balls 4's 6's SR
Deyrland       Win 4 wickets (24 remaining)  27   24    2  1   112.50
Mattijana      Win 4 wickets (1 remaining)   29   25    4  0   116.00
Damukuni       Win 5 wickets (7 remaining)   32   24    4  1   133.33
Busoga Islands Win 4 wickets (2 remaining)   41   33    3  2   124.24
Plough Islands Win 40 runs                   42   31    2  2   135.48
TOTAL (Average: 34.2)                       171  137   15  6   124.82

Milligan's steady production for Darmen sees them undefeated

WILLOWBOURNE, KO-OREN - Undefeated in the Qualifying Stage, the Darmeni National Cricket team has advanced to the Group Stage as the number one seed. The qualification is in large part the responsibility of one Theudofrid Milligan, whose patient hands in the middle have led him to score 171 runs in five matches, at an average of 34.2 runs per inning. Milligan has also hit 21 boundaries, six of them maximums.

Milligan, batting third, has provided stability to the Darmeni lineup, preventing the team from suffering any early collapses. Partnerships pairing Milligan with either captain Sigmund Winter or Ellar Ready have been the most productive for Darmen. This was perhaps most evident as Milligan high scored against the Plough Islands with 42 runs following opener Vinnie Acker's golden duck. Darmen would recover to put up a total of 145 runs, a target the Darmeni bowlers would go on to easily defend.

Darmen will now face some new opponents, and some old, in the Group Stage. Leaving Maynard and the Leewardia Oval behind, Darmen will face the likes of the multiverse's top ranked side, West Phoenicia, and hosts Ko-oren at the Royal Oval in Willowbourne. Also in Darmen's group are the second ranked T20 side in the GCF, Elejamie; qualifying stage opponents the Plough Islands; and surprise qualifiers Mughals royal. It should also be noted that Ko-oren are ranked third in the multiverse and Darmen is fourth, making Group A a group of the four best teams in the multiverse and two unranked sides. One might be inclined to give the Ko-oren organizers a little nudge to reexamine their seeding arrangements prior to hosting another GCF competition.

Nonetheless, Darmen is the team in form, led by Milligan's calm presence in the middle. Advancement to the Semifinals will certainly be difficult, but the team is up for the challenge. Hosts Ko-oren will be the first obstacle in the way; memories of the World Test Championship will certainly be in the minds of many.

by **Elejamie** » Tue Oct 16, 2018 11:15 am

Scorecards and Match Reports

Day 1: Elejamie vs Teusland (Elejamie won by 34 runs)

Elejamie won the toss and elected to bat

IN	Surname		Out (c/r)		Out (b)			Runs
SP	Loughlin	N/A			b Schaper		37
D	Halabi		c Bohlen		b Valden		39
RCM	Hamilton	c Wenz			b Valden		38
MJ	Bentley		N/A			b v Stricker		23
KS	Entwistle	N/A			lbw v Stricker		09
RE	Montoya		c Tausche		b v Sauerland		17
S	Halabi		NOT			OUT			02
DJ	Slezinger	NOT			OUT			12

In the opening match, Elejamie were up against Teusland, who were new to the competition but had such a long history of cricket it makes you wonder why they waited this long. Elejamie won the toss and proceeded to set a hefty target of 177, with the trio of Steve Loughlin, Dawoud Halabi and Robert Hamilton scoring the lion's share of runs between them, 114 between the three of them. However, although Teusland would get into the swing of thing and would manage to slow down the Greenblacks down to the point where Kelly Entwistle and Salman Halabi would finish with single-digit runs, the damage had already been done and Elejamie had set a target of 177/6. Teusland's first innings didn't get off to the best of starts although they managed some impressive totals, like Richard Reider getting a total of 27 runs before being caught out by Ricardo Montoya and Erik Bohlen being ran out by Kelly Entwistle after 28 runs. However, despite some brilliant batting from Frank Polzl in the last two overs, the Edelweiss were unable to catch up to the Greenblacks' target and finished with a still-good 133/5.

Group B's other matches: Liventia vs Mughals royal (Mughals royal won by 12 runs); Apox vs Melbergia (Apox won by 27 runs)

Day 2: Elejamie vs Liventia (Liventia won by 51 runs)

Liventia won the toss and elected to bat

IN	Surname		Out (c/r)	Out (b)		Runs
SP	Loughlin	c Hennessey	b Finney	27
NT	Hutcherson	N/A		b Adams		04
RCM	Hamilton	r Millbank	b Finney	24
MJ	Bentley		N/A		lbw Kennedy	19
KS	Entwistle	NOT		OUT		23
RE	Montoya		c Kerr		b Kennedy	25
S	Halabi		NOT		OUT		17

In Elejamie's sole defeat of the tournament so far, they were up against cricketing powerhouses Liventia, a team that, despite their lack of success recently and reports of their T20 coach threatening to quit after the first match of the tournament, is still tipped to take the trophy home. Liventia kept their starting 11 from their opener against Mughals royal, whereas for the Elejamian side Julián Blanco replaced Arían Rodriguez and Nick Hutcherson replaced Dawoud Halabi. Having won the toss, Liventia batted first and set an impressive target of 190/6, a target that seemed impossible to catch. And, indeed, it was impossible for the Greenblacks to catch up, due to some superb bowling from Liventia, who managed to either no ball them or, in Dawoud Halabi's case, get them out before they could do any major damage. Though they did pick up the pace towards the end, it wasn't enough and they'd finish their innings with a score of 139/5.

Group B's other matches: Teusland vs Melbergia (Teusland won by 4 wickets); Mughals royal vs Apox (Apox won by 14 runs)

Day 3: Apox vs Elejamie (Elejamie won by 30 runs)

Apox won the toss and elected to field

IN	Surname		Out (c/r)	 Out(b/lbw)		Runs
SP	Loughlin	c Washington	b Gallegos		29
D	Halabi		N/A		b Gallegos		50
DR	McCafferty	r Muldoney	b Kakketa		15
MJ	Bentley		c Muldoney	b Kakketa		25
DG	Garner		NOT		OUT			25
RE	Montoya		c Lupiter	b Hamilton-Randall	11
P	Cetorin		NOT		OUT			12

On a day that saw all away victories in Group B, the Apox-Elejamie game was only different because it saw the Greenblacks win by runs as opposed to wickets. Hoping to make a comeback from their disappoint defeat to Liventia, they made another couple changes, bringing back D Halabi and Rodriguez but replacing Robert Hamilton with Dan McCafferty, Entwistle with Dave Garner, Salman Halabi with Pael Cetorin and Pablo Novak with Fuad al-Jurjani. The Greenblacks lost the coin toss but were allowed to bat first, using their innings to set an impressive target of 167/5, including a half century from D Halabi and two 25s from Bentley and Garner. However, despite their best efforts (including 46 runs from Hamish Gaarayi when he was up to bat), Apox were unable to catch up and were only able to reach 133/5 before reaching their 20 overs. As a result of the win, Elejamie moved up to first place, replacing Apox who slipped down to second.

Group B's other matches: Teusland vs Liventia (Teusland won by six wickets); Melbergia vs Mughals royal (Mughals royal win by 3 wickets)

Day 4: Elejamie vs Melbergia (Elejamie won by 4 wickets)

Elejamie won the toss and elected to field

IN	Surname		Out (c/r)	Out (b/lbw)	Runs
SP	Loughlin	c #f4		b #b3		45
D	Halabi		c #f1		b #b2		17
DR	McCafferty	N/A		b #b2		00
MJ	Bentley		c #f2		b #b1		26
DG	Garner		N/A		lbw #b3		21
RE	Montoya		c #f3		b #b		19
P	Cetorin		NOT		OUT		14
DJ	Slezinger	NOT		OUT		04

In a surprisingly tough game against Melbergia, who would be eliminated as a result of their loss and would go on to be eliminated without a single point, Elejamie managed to get their only "win by wickets" game of the tournament so far. Elejamie's line-up for this game was the same as the previous game against Apox, albeit with Frank Kaderabek replacing Lucas Mahler, who had to sit the match out due to stomach cramps; their opponents, however, kept the same line-up they've had for the past few games. Melbergia won the toss and, deciding to bat first, managed to set a hefty target of 145/2, which might've seemed like something the Greenblacks could catch with five overs left to bowl. However, what then followed was a surprisingly tough innings for Elejamie to catch up, with the absolute lowlight being Dan McCafferty being bowled out for a duck. Fortunately, a 4 from Danny Slezinger, his only set of points from that match, was enough to ensure that the Greenblacks came away with a victory, managing to make it 146/6 in 19.3 overs and helping Elejamie retain their spot at the top of the group.

Group B's other matches: Teusland vs Mughals royal (Mughals royal won by seven wickets); Liventia vs Apox (Apox won by seven wickets)

Day 5: Mughals royal vs Elejamie (Elejamie won by 8 runs)

Elejamie won the toss and elected to bat

IN	Surname		Out (c/r)	Out (b/lbw)	Runs
SP	Loughlin	NOT		OUT		73
D	Halabi		N/A		b #b2		34
RCM	Hamilton	c #f4		b #b3		19
MJ	Bentley		NOT		OUT		14

The do-or-die match for the Greenblacks saw them up against the Mughals royal (the lower case intentional), a team that was surprisingly doing quite well for themselves despite being in their first tournament. The team decided to revert back to the line-up they had in the opener against Teusland, whereas Mughals royal retained the same line-up as their last game (also against Teusland). After winning the toss, the Greenblacks batted first, with Steve Loughlin absolutely dominating the innings, not only scoring more runs than Dawoud Halabi, Robert Hamilton and Mike Bentley combined but also managing to last all 20 overs, helping his side end their innings with a score of 140/2. Afterwards, it would be Mughals royal's turn to bat, where they were able to push Elejamie to their limits a couple of times but, ultimately, would fall short with a score of 132/5 at the end of their 20 overs. As a result of the win, Elejamie finished first in Group B with a record of 4-0-1; Mughals royal and Liventia would join them in the second round whereas Apox, Teusland and Melbergia would get knocked out of the tournament.

Group B's other matches: Apox vs Teusland (Apox won by five wickets); Melbergia vs Liventia (Liventia won by 1 wicket/run DAN)

Group 1 Matchups:

Elejamie (5) vs Mughals royal (8)
The Plough Islands (10) vs Elejamie (5) (to avoid a clash of colours, Elejamie will wear an all-black kit for this match)
Elejamie (5) vs Darmen (1)
West Phoenicia (3) vs Elejamie (5)
Elejamie (5) vs Ko-oren (12)

by **Ko-oren** » Tue Oct 16, 2018 11:30 am

Our Group Stage Opponents

The second part of the tournament has started. 50% of the teams that came to Ko-oren, are now in various stages of completing their trip home. The other 50% have completed their journeys to either Willowbourne or Greencaster, as they're welcomed into the two largest cities of the country. From the grounds of the First-class teams of East Surbourneshire, Mawryshire, West Surbourneshire and Leeshire, we're now in the stadiums of the urban First-class teams of Greencaster and Willowbourne. There are two groups, and ours is in central Willowbourne. We're facing Darmen, West Phoenicia, Elejamie, the Plough Islands, and Mughals Royal. These teams all represent different levels of how iconic this match will be and how badly we want a win against them, so we've gone ahead and ranked the next five matches for you:

Win, no matter what
What other team could this be other than Darmen. The nation we've long had a football rivalry with, and a rivalry that occasionally spilled over to other sports, is now also intertwined with our national cricketing history. A short Test series in the most recent season, as well as the climax of the season in a final at and against Darmen, means that we've now roughly been on a cricket ground with the Darmeni for about 16 days now. In a new chapter of this rivalry, defending our home, as revenge for the Test cricket season, and as a reference to soccer history, we have to win this one. If it comes down to the last ball, we know we'd bowl it underarm. It'll be hard as Darmen possesses many players that could take up the bat and stay on for a while, and still having varied and excellent bowling. They didn't go 5-0-0 for nothing.

We'd like a win, but friendly
Now there's a newish face to our cricket history. The Plough Islands have been nothing but graceful, friendly and fantastic guests during their earlier stay on the Dragonfly archipelago, and they've been great guests once again. They've survived their group, and they're on our menu. Given the budding/blossoming, but friendly rivalry against them, we'd love a win to fuel the fire a little, but we wouldn't taint the match with anything that would reflect negatively on our national team or our country. No underarm bowling for this one. Like Darmen, there's a small group of varied style between their bowlers, but have a good batting lineup including some limited over only batsmen. We should have that next time.

Fight for a win, but not too hard
This one's for our baseball brethren. They're having a hard time in the WBC against West Phoenicia, so we could do the least thing for them which is beating them at cricket. West Phoenicia has come up every now and again in various sports, so it wasn't unthinkable that cricket would come up at some point. Well, here we are, and they're in our home now. Sure, we'd go far for a win, but we'd do that against any team. It's just a little more interesting with our teams meeting over in the sport that's basically 90 degree cricket.

Give it your all, win would be nice
Next up is Elejamie. Again, we'd love the win, but Elejamie just doesn't conjure the kind of emotion of the previous three nations, but that's kind of unwarranted as well. Elejamie are cricket greats, so they're bound to come up some time or another if we keep playing short and long formats of the game. The Greenblacks aren't a very old cricket nation, but it's gripped the nation nonetheless and they've won a T20 World Championship in the past. They're a nasty foe, but we wouldn't go to any nasty lengths to teach them a lesson.

Just play well, who are these guys anyway
And then there's Mughals Royal. Who are these guys?

For added effect, try the following: look at the T20 ranking before this tournament started. Just start reading from the top. If you think 'hey, this looks like our group a bit' you're right, the top 4 are all in our group. West Phoenicia in first, Elejamie in second, Ko-oren in third and Darmen in fourth. The Plough Islands haven't been in a T20 WC prior to this one, but they've taken the cricketing world by storm so we won't underestimate them - and if you've seen them in the Test season, you know not to underestimate them. Oh, and there's the Mughals Royal.

The other group consists of a few big names as well: Barunia, Mattijana, Liventia, Eastfield Lodge, for basically the rest of the top 12 of the world ranking, as well as Northwest Kalactin, a controversial figure, and Rooimervania.

by **Ko-oren** » Tue Oct 16, 2018 12:29 pm

World Twenty20 Championships XI@Ko-oren

MD1 Results

Group A
Darmen 130/4 (20 overs)
Ko-oren 134/7 (19.3 overs)

West Phoenicia 136/5 (13.1 overs)
The Plough Islands 133/7 (20 overs)

Elejamie 138/4 (13.4 overs)
Mughals royal 134/8 (20 overs)

Group A               Pld   W  D  L 
1 Elejamie                1   1  0  0
  Ko-oren                 1   1  0  0
  West Phoenicia          1   1  0  0
4 Darmen                  1   0  0  1
  Mughals royal           1   0  0  1
  The Plough Islands      1   0  0  1

Group B
Barunia 132/6 (17 overs)
Eastfield Lodge 130/7 (20 overs)

Northwest Kalactin 149/2 (20 overs)
Rooimervania 85/4 (20 overs)

Mattijana 156/9 (19.5 overs)
Liventia 154/7 (20 overs)

Group B               Pld   W  D  L 
1 Barunia                 1   1  0  0
  Mattijana               1   1  0  0
  Northwest Kalactin      1   1  0  0
4 Eastfield Lodge         1   0  0  1
  Liventia                1   0  0  1
  Rooimervania            1   0  0  1

by **The Plough Islands** » Tue Oct 16, 2018 4:11 pm

on the 16th October 2018, the Plough Islands Gazette wrote:
20-OVER WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP: WEST PHOENICIA RECORD VICTORY IN VICIOUS, FEARFUL GAME
by Denis Wormwood, Sporting Correspondent, in Willowbourne

The Plough Islands' campaign in what was arguably the 20-over world championships proper, following the qualification stages, got off to a hesitant start today as the Foxes, having set a competitive total under difficult circumstances, were undone by injuries and some excellent middle order batting by top-ranked 20 over side West Phoenicia during the first of the coming week's Group A matches in Willowbourne. However, the results - unfortunately, for once, not for cricketing reasons - did not tell the full story.
West Phoenicia had not gained the best reputation during the tournament after incidents of supporter misbehaviour and accusations of official bias from some of the country's media, and this was brought into sharp, personal focus for this author when he woke up to a barrage of criticism in the West Phoenician press over alleged comments in the previous day's Gazette. When asked before the match about the controversy, which saw members of the Lightning Bolts' squad publicly denigrating the Foxes, captain Kevin Laing said he "...wished...really wish their ability was matched by their personality, and their sportsmanship. It is disappointing - they clearly have not even seen the islands, let alone visited our country - but my role is to try and keep our players focused and make sure we just put this from our minds", although the fact Laing, along with the rest of the Foxes, walked out to bat and field all wearing rainbow sweatbands around their wrists and ankles cast doubt on the extent to which this had been achieved.
Laura Malan, Editor: The articles in question, which named Denis Wormwood, our Sporting Correspondent, as having referred to West Phoenicia as a "socially backward" and "repressive" nation, contained a large amount of inaccurate information regarding the Plough Islands and referred to the Plough Islands Gazette as "FAKE NEWS". This claim, however, is somewhat undermined by the fact that the article in question was not written by Wormwood but by Plough Radio's Ian Goswell, who was clearly credited, and in any case it is felt that the response provoked only serves to reinforce the original claims.
The Plough Islands Gazette accordingly asks for an official apology on behalf of Wormwood, who was entirely blameless.

A once again much changed Plough Islands team - most notably, Shauna Weaver returned at #3 - came out to a distinctly frosty reception; while the West Phoenicians were not numerous, they were evenly spread and were making their presence felt to such an extent that it created the feeling of a partisan crowd, even if most local fans and neutrals were probably leaning towards the Foxes based on historical Ko-orenite rivalries with the West Phoenicians. Even "Golden Age" was met with jeers; the grandstanding by the West Phoenicians had riled their supporters and team up to a frightening extent.
Opting to bat first - and probably glad of the relative safety of the Willowbourne dressing rooms - the Foxes had a slightly slow start to their innings, with Alan Narre keeping a good line and length and Graeme Holt and Leggett only able to add on 17 in the first three overs before Holt poorly timed a slog-sweep and found only James Emanon on the square leg boundary. Leggett, though, dug in with the returning (and slightly limping) Weaver, and the pair adopted something of a siege mentality against the crowd and the barrage of West Phoenician pace bowling, speaking only to each other and the umpire and huddling close to celebrate every run or boundary taken. This worked quite well under the circumstances, with there being enough variation in the new pitch to make scoring shots reasonably frequent, and Leggett was able to make use of her considerable upper arm strength to deposit a few balls into the trees towards the Willowbourne CBD side of the ground to give the small gathering of Foxes fans something to celebrate. The pair added 55 for the second wicket before Leggett took off for a run and inadvertedly misdirected Weaver as they tried to cross paths, the two Foxes colliding and Leggett (36) being dismissed as they fell in a heap of ears, tails, and bats.
Weaver kept going, this time with Rory Aliyev offering good support, but both of them were gone shortly afterwards; Weaver to a quicker delivery than usual from left-arm spinner Jonathan Church who found a way past her defences, and Aliyev getting a very thick edge on a Narre outswinger that landed in a sidestepping Ali Leballas' gloves. With the scoreboard showing 72-5, the Foxes were beginning to falter, and perhaps sensing the occasion, Laing came out and resolved to rally his team and stand his ground against the whooping and hollering Lightning Bolts; although he was only able to steady the field at one end - and lacked consistent support, as Church did for Tim Bleasdale and Adam Kalantas in relatively quick succession, the latter without scoring or facing a ball as he was Mankaded without warning - the captain faced down spin and seam with equal resolve and his unbeaten innings of 33, including five fours, was heroic under the circumstances. With New Dalmatian wicketkeeper Ilya Lebed (15) contributing vital lower order runs before falling to part-timer Harry South with two balls to go, Laing steered the Foxes to an entirely respectable 133 for 5, at this tournament a very defendable total albeit requiring some luck.
Up until now, the crowd had been relatively quiet since the opening exchanges, especially as Laing mounted his comeback, but as the West Phoenician reply began they seemed to step up a gear, with individual players being targeted for attention and the mood of the opposing fans very, very detectable by even the most partisan observer. Grey Gryphon and South started on the attack, having little trouble taking care of Andrew Baxter's pace, but off-spinner Sarah Ashe was able to check their progress quite easily and soon removed both openers in one over, Gryphon losing his bails for 18 and South on the wrong end of a 50/50 lbw decision for just ten. West Phoenicia's ability and experience began to tell, though, as while Ashe (2-22) and Naomi Salisbury (1-22) were able to take wickets and keep the batsmen from settling in properly, the run rate showed little sign of slowing as many of the incoming batsmen were ready to go from the start, and while West Phoenicia were four down by the fifth over, they had accumulated 50 runs in that time, and were well on course to chase the Foxes down.
Then came the hammer blows; though Salisbury had managed to remove Narre at #5 - the West Phoenician batting order being idiosyncratic and not following the format virtually every other Test and one-day cricket team found suitable - without scoring, she was withdrawn at the end of that over after complaining of back pain and some increasingly ragged deliveries that failed to pitch anywhere near the pitch's sweet spot, leaving Ashe to try and contain the two Emanon brothers and their reputations as big hitters. The intention was to replace her from the pavilion end with Weaver, at her own request, but the leg-spinner was clearly not able to perform optimally only sent down five balls - rather slowly, and for two sixes, a four, a dot and a no ball - before pulling up and stumbling to the ground having drained her own energy reserves completely; she was helped from the field again, and with two bowlers gone and Baxter proving ineffective against a settled pair, something of a crisis ensued.
Laing was forced to deputise to cover the situation with a tiring Leggett, and was unfortunate to be hit for 31 runs for no return off three, and it only took the brothers four more overs to move within reach of, and surpass, the Foxes' target, as the volume in the stands increased to the point where neutrals could be seen leaving the ground. As the winning runs - Timothy finished on 42, and James on 38, with strike rates well into three figures - came off the elder Emanon's bat, chaos ensued as an uncoordinated West Phoenician mass celebration converged at a point near the stand where most of the small band of Plough Islander travelling fans were sitting. As fear rapidly turned to panic, some of the Foxes' players, who had come across to commiserate and catch up with their friends and followers, were driven to seek refuge with those fans in the same part of the stadium's inner pathways. The disturbance took some time to clear, and left the Foxes both shaken and bemused.
The reflections brought worse news as Weaver's overexertion had resulted in a bad thigh strain that effectively ruled the Swift all-rounder out of the remainder of the competition, and it was all Laing could do to take positives from the result; "I feel our batting was excellent once again under that sort of pressure. We know where the problems are with our game, and we know to do what we can to dial them out, but we are relying on events outside of our control at the moment...". The psychological effect of the pre- and during-game theatrics by the West Phoenicians was discussed, but Bleasdale was dismissive when asked if it had any effect; "it's water off my back; everyone just pulled their sleeves up and got on with the game. I don't think they expected us to not react, which is what we did out there; we had to stick together, mind, but when we were out there it was just no-sell all the way through. We went toe to toe with them mentally and we cancelled them out. I wasn't scared at all - at least not till the end..."
For the next game in Willowbourne against Elejamie, the Foxes will likely be changed yet again - Weaver being the most obvious omission, but Naomi Salisbury may also be forced to rest after the left-arm spinner, having played eight games almost back to back, looked increasingly tired out in the middle today. After the experiences of today, though, most players and fans will be glad for a simple, peaceful game of cricket, and the Greenblacks - who cruised to a victory over the mysterious Mughals royal - will almost certainly provide simply that. The Foxes' spirit emerged from West Phoenicia bruised but not conquered, and as they retreated to the Royal Hotel opposite the Oval's training ground to lick their wounds, there were nonetheless positives to be found even in an experience nobody particularly wished to repeat.

PLOUGH ISLANDS CRICKET ASSOCIATION
XI FOR 20 OVER GAME VS.   ELEJAMIE

        PLAYER           BAT   BOW
#9  G   Holt             LHB      
#7  MG  Davy             RHB   RLB
#12 AC  Leggett          RHB   RLB
#2  RP  Aliyev           RHB      
#1  KCT Laing (c)        RHB   RMD
#5  TM  Bleasdale        RHB      
#10 AA  Kalantas         LHB      
#11 IT  Lebed (w)        LHB      
#3  S   Ashe             RHB   ROB
#13 CG  McCarthy         RHB   RFM
#4  A   Baxter           RHB   RFS

TOURNAMENT STYLE MODIFIER:   - 2.5

by **West Phoenicia** » Tue Oct 16, 2018 8:32 pm

Hattie Finn, wife of West Phoenician Cricket Federation President was in Willowbourne to support the Lighting Bolts in their first group stage match against The Plough Islands Foxes.

Mrs Finn's tongue in cheek wardrobe that consisted of a Silver Fox full length fur coat was not missed by fans who clapped and applauded her fashion publicity stunt.

As sports reporters rushed to interview her during the break for lunch, she cheekily winked into the camera while sipping a glass of pink champagne, "We came to hunt foxes. Now I'm wearing the spoils of a well fought war on the cricket ground.

Lighting Bolts Team Captain Jack Tennessee was all smiles at the post game news conference.
It was a great fun game. The mood of the fans was spot on. We could feel their positve energy and that just made us play harder. Coz after all, while we are here to play cricket, we wouldn't be where we are if it wasn't for our fans. That's where some nations need a reality check. It's always about the sport and the fans! You need a good balance of focus on the match while ensuring your fans are entertained and enjoying themselves. So while haters are gonna hate don't diss us for wanting to put on a show to please our fans and sponsors. At the end of the day we celebrate wins and losses cause after all it is by the will of the West Phoenicians Gods, goddess and Animal deities that determine the fate of each game.

Coach Mr Edward Mount-Alexander said; While West Phoenicia won today, the spirit of cricket is deeply rooted in the Plough Island Cricket team. Putting aside their state owned fake media at the end of the day the Foxes came to play and they did.
Leggett and Laing were on fire today and should be applauded for their batting skill. While Ashe bowled with such passion I forgot for a moment that the player wasn't West Phoenician.
At the end of the day The Emanon brothers were just unstoppable and were the a big reason for our victory.

Darmen officials should take note of this match today as The Lighting Bolts will play them next. The two nations have come across each other on the international circuit. West Phoenicia considers them a friendly nation who sends friendly teams to international events the two have never had an issue so it should be a friendly yet goal driven match as both teams are wanting to progress to the next level.

Meanwhile West Phoenicians Cricket fans brace themselves after the media reported West Phoenicia taking out Ko-oren in 3 straight games in the WBC.

by **Ko-oren** » Wed Oct 17, 2018 12:03 pm

World Twenty20 Championships XI@Ko-oren

MD2 Results

Group A
Ko-oren 131/2 (18.1 overs)
Mughals royal 129/8 (20 overs)

The Plough Islands 150/7 (20 overs)
Elejamie 154/9 (19.5 overs)

Darmen 131/6 (20 overs)
West Phoenicia 172/5 (20 overs)

Group A               Pld   W  D  L 
1 Elejamie                2   2  0  0
  Ko-oren                 2   2  0  0
  West Phoenicia          2   2  0  0
4 Darmen                  2   0  0  2
  Mughals royal           2   0  0  2
  The Plough Islands      2   0  0  2

Group B
Eastfield Lodge 131/7 (20 overs)
Liventia 132/9 (16.1 overs)

Rooimervania 140/7 (20 overs)
Mattijana 134/4 (20 overs)

Barunia 170/8 (19.4 overs)
Northwest Kalactin 166/8 (20 overs)

Group B               Pld   W  D  L 
1 Barunia                 2   2  0  0
2 Northwest Kalactin      2   1  0  1
3 Rooimervania            2   1  0  1
4 Mattijana               2   1  0  1
5 Liventia                2   1  0  1
6 Eastfield Lodge         2   0  0  2

by **Ko-oren** » Wed Oct 17, 2018 12:49 pm

The Dragonflies, after having moved to Willowbourne from the most rural First-class grounds in Ko-oren, have found their form. Despite it being a tough group, the Dragonflies haven't made a mistake yet, and are cruising along with two victories in two matches. Elejamie and West Phoenicia have the same record, while Darmen, Mughals Royal and the Plough Islands have fallen behind significantly at 0-2. As only the top two teams advance from this group, recovering from a 0-2 start to take one of the two top places will prove hard, but not impossible.

Darmen 130/4 (20 overs)
Ko-oren 134/7 (19.3 overs)

The group stage started out with the highest stakes match, the one against Darmen. For drama's sake you might want to see this one played later, but results-wise we might as well have it early. A loss here wouldn't be the end of the world. But that wasn't what happened. The Darmeni set a decent target at 130, mostly set by Winter and Milligan. Acker disappeared for 12 runs, and Ready, Odell, and Armbruster did the Darmeni barely any good in the final 5 overs, with the three players combining for 31 runs on the final 30 balls. Winter and Milligan paired up for most of the match, scoring 87 runs between them. They were a handful, and it was a relief once one of them finally went out. Milligan attempted a straight drive on a ball with good length, straight down the middle, but it bounced higher than Milligan anticipated. He hit it a fraction of a second later, the ball caught a lot more air than he hoped, and it was an easy prey for Willis. Harvey played with bowling speeds more and more the further the innings went on, and this was finally rewarded. Winter's wicket fell two balls later as Harvey aimed at off-stump, and Winter could only edge the ball off to Stanway in the gully. As was already said, the only wicket after that one was Odell's, but that wasn't a hard fight like Milligan and Winter's. Near the end, the Darmeni tried upping the run rate a bit, which got them a few fours to salvage the final overs, but Odell simply hit a slightly short ball somewhere behind midwicket, and Harvey caught it easily. 130 runs for four wickets, it feels like Darmen could've gotten more if they had taken more risk in the middle of the innings.

The Dragonflies came on next, and while they weren't conservative with their wickets, it was fairly effective. Stevenson and Willis had the highest partnership, a stretch of three overs for 38 runs, including two sixes and four boundaries. Willis and Stanway were great together as well, pairing up for 12 balls and 23 runs, and nearly half of the Ko-orenite total came off of these five overs. Stevenson and Twaddle had some difficulty opening up the match, and the constant spin-fast-spin-fast strategy of the Darmeni bowlers took out Twaddle and Shapter and kept scoring rates low early on. The fast bowlers kept the score low, while the spinners threatened to take a wicket at nearly every ball. It was only until Willis and Stevenson began hitting fours that batting started taking precedence over bowling. yMharwn finally finished the innings together with Raycraft, and the Mawryshire all-rounder finally hit the deciding four on the fourth-last ball of the innings - it had been a long time coming and yMharwn finally pounced on a McAlister delivery just inside the on-side stump, and hit it in between square leg and midwicket. It was the one side of the field without outfielders, and deep point and deep cover on the other side of the field could only watch on as the ball just kept rolling along the ground, inches out of the reach of Ready and Gardenar.

Ko-oren 131/2 (18.1 overs)
Mughals royal 129/8 (20 overs)

The second match wasn't as nerve-wracking. Raycraft, Harvey and Marsden kept Mughals Royal nicely under 130 runs, while interrupting any kind of rapport between the batsmen by taking wickets about every second over. Sheer individual quality from the batsmen kept the scoreboard rolling, and slight focus on economy over taking wickets would've made things even easier for the Dragonflies. In the end, it took only Stevenson, Twaddle, Shapter, and Willis to score 131 and to win the match in just over 18 overs. The opening partnership went for 20 runs in two and a half overs, Twaddle and Shapter scored 60 runs between them, and Shapter and Willis took care of the final 51 runs. Shapter, especially, slapped the bowlers all over the place directing the ball wherever he wanted: he scored a six over the head of the midwicket, then drove a four right between point and cover, then finishing off the over with two runs on a straight drive. Mughals Royal put their fielders mostly in the outfield, and then Shapter reacted by effortlessly switching to a few cuts and hooks here and there. In the end, his stats tell exactly what kind of match he had, facing 48 balls for 78 runs - not out. If the limited overs didn't stop him, he'd still be out there putting the Mughals Royal's bowlers to shame.

by **West Phoenicia** » Thu Oct 18, 2018 1:48 am

Willowbourne,

The West Phoenicians Lighting Bolts have struck again, this time against Darmen. With a 41 run win against the team West Phoenicia was most concerned about due to Darmen's flawless matches in the qualification stage. The Emanon brothers were again the stars of the day stacking up 74 runs between them.
With a staggering 172 runs, Darmen was unable to get the edge they needed to come close to beating the Lighting Bolts, which thanks to a great fielding team that restricted Darmen from obtaining a higher amount of runs, and no stupid mistakes from the fielders in allowing Darmen to snatch those needed runs.
Coach Edward Mount-Alexander new strategy of position placement of fielders is a tactic they will use when they come up against their next opponent. A strategy he hopes will have repeat success.

Ko-oren will be the next team they face, and it promises to be a fantastic and challenging match. Ko-oren will have the best home team advantage, stadium crowds are expected to surge as Ko-oren fans and supporters will no doubt come out like an army. A vast stadium where the majority are all cheering for a West Phoenician loss. Not only because fans want to see Ko-oren in the finals for Cricket but fans do not want to see another Ko-oren team fall to West Phoenicia. There is a strong desire for them to win as payback for Ko-oren defeat at the WBC.

The Lighting Bolts no doubt are aware of so many opponent fans present that it can chip away at the confidence armour. But there will be some comfort in the small peppering of West Phoenician fans who have made the trip to Ko-oren.
While the Lighting Bolts do not have a cheerleading squad due to the nature of the sport it does have a Spirit Squad. Dedicated supporters who attend all trips and who create amazing banners and signs that will be waved in the stands, cheering our men on and hopefully annoying the Ko-oren
Fans who are more demure and seem to frown on the show boating antics of West Phoenicians.

In addition a giant sized paper mache effigy of a Dragonfly, the Ko-oren cricket team name will officially be set ablaze in the Carpark before the game by Hattie Finn, wife of West Phoenician Cricket Federation President to the cheers of West Phoenician fans before they head into the grounds to face their competition.

A win against Ko-oren will officially push them into the semi finals where currently there is a 3 horse race where only two can progress.

by **The Plough Islands** » Thu Oct 18, 2018 2:27 am

on the 17th October 2018, the Plough Islands Gazette wrote:
20-OVER WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP: LAST OVER ANGUISH FOR FOXES
by Denis Wormwood, Sporting Correspondent, in Willowbourne

This competition - which has taken the country and the Plough Islands Cricket Association quite unexpectedly by surprise - produced another surprise today as the Foxes battled with the Global Cricket Federation's second ranked side Elejamie on level terms for their entire match today, the fate of the game not being decided until the second to last ball of the last over of the last innings. The Plough Islands had batted first and set a daunting target of 151 after an excellent performance by New Dalmatian wunderkind Rory Aliyev from Highrock, and made Elejamie work for their runs as the Foxes' bowlers dismissed players frequently to keep the pressure levels high, before a 55-run seventh wicket partnership put Elejamie back on track, and the tension lasted right up until the last over where Colin McCarthy took two wickets but was unable to find the crucial third as the Elejamie #11 Pablo Novak hit his first ball for six to dash Plough Islander hopes, and break Plough Islander hearts.
The Foxes were forced into more squad rotations by the schedule of the tournament, with spinner Naomi Salisbury being rested and opening all-rounder Matthew Davy returning to partner Graeme Holt; it was this pair that once again made a mark early in the match, with Holt blazing a quick 16 runs from just under two overs before falling just short in trying to convert an easy two into an ambitious three. Elejamian captain Danny Slezinger rotated his bowlers - himself included - rather frequently and would often move fielders into completely different shapes between deliveries, with the consequence that the Foxes were rarely placed under any sort of time or scoring pressure, and indeed Davy, Audrey Leggett - at least, before the Bradford goatherd chopped Robert Hamilton on to her stumps for 14 - and Aliyev found runs quite easy to come by early in the match. Davy was cautious, perhaps overly so given the pace of the game, but solid in his defences that often also had enough of a kick to find a gap in the close-in field set by the Greenblacks, while Aliyev took the opposite approach and tore in to the Elejamian bowling from the start, finding the green pitch and the opponents' combination of pace and wrist spin much to his liking, scoring heavily especially down the leg side and behind the wicket even after the partnership with Davy was broken when the leg-spinner holed out to Salman Halabi on 20. Partnered first by Laing, who was solid in his support and snatched eight singles from nine balls before getting a thick edge from Slezinger and through to wicketkeeper Mike Bentley, and then by the equally motivated Tim Bleasdale, Aliyev took the game to the Greenblacks and brought his own half-century up as the Foxes' partnership approached the same mark.
However, just as the total began to look like it would be formidable with both batsmen scoring at will, Bleasdale (23) fell in exactly the same way his captain had - half-catching Slezinger so the ball looped up and into Bentley's arms, breaking up what had been the most promising partnership of the innings. Novak (3-34) then struck twice in three balls in the last over to remove Adam Kalantas for a duck and Ilya Lebed for just 1 to check the Foxes' progress, before Aliyev took advantage of a wobbly final delivery to probe a shot past midwicket and to the boundary to bring up 150 in time for the final score, the teenage right-hander finishing on a career best 61.
In reply, Elejamie started inconsistently - Steve Loughlin hoicked fast bowler Andrew Baxter's first delivery to cow corner for four, but two balls later fellow opener Dawoud Halabi moved too late to connect with a delivery that seamed in and uprooted his middle stump, and two overs later Loughlin was searching for another partner as a kamikaze innings from Hamilton delivered 14 off 8 balls but ended in being caught lbw trying to slog-sweep McCarthy. Elejamie's batting attack all seemed to fall into the categories of 'all out attack' or 'struggling to get going', and particularly against the spin of Sarah Ashe (2-23) and a surprisingly tight Leggett (2-30), both groups were kept under control by the Foxes, so that while Elejamie were progressing well against the required run rate, if slightly behind, they did so at the regular cost of wickets.
Elejamie were in need of a consistent lower order partnership to turn the tide, and after beginning to fall behind and stutter to 85-7, they found it with eight overs remaining; captain Slezinger and the hitherto unheralded Lucas Mahler dug in against Ashe and Baxter and arrested the Greenblacks' decline, before making inroads into the target; with three overs to go, they had hauled their side up to 140, and by now the Foxes were beginning to panic. The situation called for death bowling; Ashe was able to restrict Slezinger and Mahler with four dot balls, but the Elejamie captain dropped any pretence of caution and swept the last two deliveries for four to leave the game poised delicately; one over remained, three runs were needed, three wickets remained - the balance of probabilities favouring Elejamie but with incredible pressure.
With everyone in the Royal Oval on their proverbial tenterhooks, McCarthy delivered the last over from the pavilion end, and the first ball was swatted back down the ground towards mid-on for a single, before the second found some reverse swing and nicked the top of Slezinger's gloves on its way into the hands of Ilya Lebed - breakthrough; 148 for 8. The Foxes huddled together as next man Arían Rodriguez came in somewhat nervously, having sat in pads and helmet for most of the last half hour, and the third ball of the over was perfect; a good line and length, it whistled past the Elejamian's defence and thudded into Lebed's gloves. The fourth caught a divot in the increasingly battered Willowbourne pitch and pitched alarmingly low; past the toe of Rodriguez's bat and into his feet, prompting a half-appeal from McCarthy and the close circle of fielders - only for the finger to rise; 148 for 9. Rodriguez could scarcely believe what was happening; Laing could not even manage that much, staring at the scoreboard with a vacant smile on his face and a Leggett draped forcefully around his shoulders as the euphoria took hold. Novak was the last man in, trudging out somewhat uneasily, and barely had time to take guard before McCarthy ran in for ball 5; another good line and length, which looked like facing a very low defence before Novak flicked the toe of the bat up and, suddenly, there was no ball. Sailing high over Baxter at midwicket, the cameras and players did not even try to pick out where it landed; there was little point. 154 for 9, with one ball remaining, Elejamie had done it, and it was all the Foxes could do to manage any controlled emotion whatsoever. A silly little 20-a-side match, but yet there were very real tears.
The reception from a packed Royal Oval was deafening and unanimous in its praise of the match, and seemed to discriminate little between teams; down at the boundary and even out on the pitch it was the same, with the jubilant Greenblacks and disconsolate Foxes hugging each other and sharing in the release after the tensest game so far for either side. Laing was laughing as much as he was sniffling, wistfully joking about "this format needs to be shorter, I can tell you that much!" and his chat to the press interrupted frequently by the need to embrace passing players both green and black and give what encouragement he could. The captain was full of praise for his team, refusing to assign blame to McCarthy or anyone else - "everyone in the team was perfect, it was the best team performance we have had under such circumstances and against opposition of that calibre and I would change nobody" - but also had time for Elejamie's determination and batting depth, "we had never encountered a side that could bat that deeply - I suppose we never really tested any of them before, out here - and Pablo Novak, to have the inner will to go in at eleven and try that shot...". Batting hero Aliyev refused to let any bitterness show, saying Elejamie "just came up with that from nowhere, what are you to do?" and seemed to reserve any criticism for his own performance, but Graeme Holt refused to entertain that attitude, even waxing patriotic - "I think it would be unfair if anyone is looking at themselves, and how they should have tried..."
There is precious little time for the Foxes to recover, as the surprise and perhaps somewhat unwelcome package of Mughals royal await tomorrow, and somewhat inevitably the match took a toll physically as well as mentally - Holt, having played every game on the tour thus far, was shattered and spent most of the Elejamie innings on the boundary, and the Plough Islands squad have been reduced to running repairs and appear increasingly threadbare by the game. As Laing will have told them - and as every Plough Islander will have remembered - the arc of the universe is long, and bends towards happiness, regardless of any little bumps in the road. If the captain and Hendricks can motivate their players again, as seems almost certain, this game can be put away in history almost immediately; in the heat of the moment, though, the abyss between victory and defeat can seem vast even though it could have been bridged by one wicket or two balls.
Tonight, the Foxes just encountered a little bump in the road.

PLOUGH ISLANDS CRICKET ASSOCIATION
XI FOR 20 OVER GAME VS. MUGHALS r.

        PLAYER           BAT   BOW
#12 AC  Leggett          RHB   RLB
#7  MG  Davy             RHB   RLB
#2  RP  Aliyev           RHB      
#1  KCT Laing (c)        RHB   RMD
#5  TM  Bleasdale        RHB      
#8  AM  Donovan          RHB      
#10 AA  Kalantas         LHB      
#11 IT  Lebed (w)        LHB      
#3  S   Ashe             RHB   ROB
#13 CG  McCarthy         RHB   RFM
#14 NA  Salisbury        LHB   SLA

TOURNAMENT STYLE MODIFIER:   - 2.5

by **Darmen** » Thu Oct 18, 2018 9:20 am

Darmen needs victory against Elejamie to avoid disaster

A three-wicket loss to Ko-oren and a 41 run loss to West Phoenicia for the Darmeni national cricket team has seen their undefeated run come to a crashing halt. With only three matches remaining, victory is needed in all three if Darmen is to have any hope of advancing to the Semifinals.

The performance of Darmen's bowling attack has dropped off significantly since the Group Stage has begun. Ko-oren would have had only three balls remaining in their innings if Corwin McAlister's delivery hadn't been smashed by Seophyn yMharwn for four. Following the match, Darmeni captain Sigmund Winter stated, "Sometimes, the match just progresses in a way where victory is so close, and yet so far. All we needed was for another wicket to fall, or a couple more dot balls, and the result could have been very different." Against West Phoenicia, Darmeni bowlers combined for an 8.6 economy rate, a tall order for Darmen to chase down even when their batsmen are on top of their game.

The two losses have not been caused by poor fielding, for sure, as Darmeni fielders have dropped only one chance at a wicket in the entire seven matches. Winter however did accept that some of his calls regarding placement in the field have been poor. "It's been pointed out to me by the coach that I'm putting too many people in the slips. We were getting a lot of opponents to edge the ball in the qualification stage, and I expected that to carry over to this stage, but against the top teams it hasn't happened as often."

Darmen faces Elejamie next, a team which is coming off of a single wicket victory over the Plough Islands and is 2-0 in the Group Stage. Darmen's young faster bowlers will need to step their game up to keep the squad from being embarrassed by a quick exit from the competition.

by **Mattijana** » Thu Oct 18, 2018 9:53 am

Dominik Maestri was getting increasingly mixed messages from back home.

Having received an annoyed-sounding email from Mattijana Cricket Board (MKB) head Sara Kapelweiss about the Kalactin problem, he had read a scathing article from MFO about the country, despite failing to mention the controversy that had enveloped the West Phoenician side concerning exactly the same issues. Why pick on one country, but not the other?
MFO had always prided themselves on their independence and objectivity, this seemed an uncharacteristically one-sided article. Was this the doing of Kapelweiss as well?

There were certainly more questions than answers. Dominik decided to call Jan Hrusak, the private investigator he had hired, to see if any progress had been made. It had.
According to Hrusak, a month before the tournament, Kapelweiss had made a couple of calls to a destination in West Phoenicia. The call had been encrypted at both ends, so he was unable to listen to the recordings, but the fact they were encrypted in the first place raised suspicions.

Dominik had asked whether Hrusak had accessed this information legally. That question was answered by a muffled harrumph and he assurance that they could get a freedom of information request if and when needed. For now it was better to go under the radar.

The idea of West Phoenician collusion with the top dogs on the MKB was heavily speculative, but fitted the series of events. So far, the only media outlet across the cricketing world to have spoken out about the unsavoury side of the world's number one team was the remote Plough Islands Gazette. Maybe the West Phoenicians had overlooked or simply underestimated the power of online media, but the scathing article had been noticed and immediately been dismissed as fake news by the West Phoenicia News Network.

If corruption had gripped both a Mattijanan government department and the MFO, there would be a massive public backlash. The government and its related media outlet had always prided themselves on being fair and transparent, this would be a shock. Maybe that was why Kapelweiss was trying to set him up as a scapegoat if things went wrong-as a distraction from their own sinister doings.

He called Hrusak to ask him to do some more digging. Whilst the pair of them had little evidence, his suspicions were little more than hopeless speculation. He had his team to focus on as well. A tight single wicket win against Liventia had been followed by a shock loss against unranked Rooimervania, which had at least geed up the side for two tough tests against Barunia and...Northwest Kalactin.

They had to beat the Kalactanians, had to. If they didn't, Kapelweiss would have him in the mincer.

ISideWith UK · by **Eastfield Lodge** » Thu Oct 18, 2018 10:57 am

Eastfield Lodge roster for WT20C XI

Batsmen

Name                    Age M/F  Order   Batting   Club             Notes
Abdul Majeed Samsurov   24   M   1-3     Left      Norrion
Maia Accardi            31   F   1-3     Right     Mount Salt City
Darcelle Uncel          21   F   3-6     Right     Westpass
Wajdi Leblanc           27   M   2-5     Right     Micronia         Vice-Captain
Muneeb Fears            29   M   3-6     Left      Benopia
Kemina Clay             27   F   1-4     Right     Marepacopolis
Farida Akhtar           27   F   2-6     Right     Ashkaren

Bowlers

Name              Age  M/F  Bowling                Batting  Order  Club                Notes
Kamron Ricketts   30    M   Left-arm orthodox      Right    7-10   Revisionism City
Wiktor Ben        25    M   Left-arm Fast          Left     6-9    Textilia
Leandro Salehi    19    M   Right-arm Medium-Fast  Right    8-11   Farond
Rasil Syed        34    M   Right-arm Fast         Right    9-11   Pedantry Central
Jeane Ghazi       32    F   Right-arm Leg-Spin     Right    8-10   Steel River Valley
Courtenay Buck    29    M   Right-arm Off-Spin     Right    5-9    Ashkaren
Rita Hollis       25    F   Right-arm Medium       Right    9-11   Seaton              Vice Captain

All-Rounders

Name                  Age  M/F  Bowling                Batting  Order  Club            Notes
Eve O'Brien           33    F   Left-arm Medium-Fast   Left     4-7    Seaton          Captain
Yesenia Alder         29    M   Right-arm Fast         Right    3-6    Mount Salt City
Diallo Khalil-Farran  23    F   Right-arm Leg-Spin     Right    2-5    Nexusortem
Ingrid Madison        27    F   Right-arm Off-Spin     Right    3-7    Ashkaren

Wicket Keepers

Name          Age  M/F  Batting  Order  Club        Notes
Kasib Forbes  28    M   Right    2-4    Westpass
Alfonsa Edge  18    F   Right    3-6    Acreville   All-Rounder (Right-arm Leg-Spin)

by **Liventia** » Thu Oct 18, 2018 12:17 pm

De Cerci: "I cannot believe my debut"
Greencaster, KO-OREN— Ryan de Cerci had an international debut to remember as the off-spinner took two wickets and hit the winning runs in a nervous one-wicket triumph for Liventia against Eastfield Lodge.

Captain Ollie Kerr won the toss and opted to insert Eastfield Lodge, who were fielding a team more used to playing Test cricket. And that inability to switch to limited-overs mode seemed to be obvious, with opener Abdul Majeed Samsurov taking 35 balls to make a painstaking 28 before falling leg-before to the 21-year-old de Cerci.

The debutant earlier accounted for Samsurov's opening partner Maia Accardi, who was beaten by the flightiness of his off-break in the final ball of his first over, the fourth in the innings. Eastfield Lodge were never able to put together a partnership of note, eventually hobbling home to an under-par total of 131/7.

Liventia, the former world champions, were expected to easily breeze to their target. De Cerci, for his part, was listed to come in at number 11 and, while padded up, must not have felt he would be needed to bat with the Red-and-Gold sitting just one run away with the scores level on 131/5 in the 15th over.

But the Eastfielder captain Eve O'Brien had other ideas, coming on to take two wickets in the over, while a third went to a run-out with the win in sight. Rasil Syed followed up with a wicket maiden the following over, claiming Ruairidh MacMaster, then scoreless off seven balls, on the boundary as the latter tried to go big for the win. With the batsmen crossing, de Cerci found himself on strike to face Rita Hollis.

"She's a medium bowler, and she tried to take the pace off it," de Cerci said in his post-match media duties after being named man of the match on debut. "I managed to read it pretty well, I think, obviously they had the fielders in saving the single but I know Sean's a good runner, as fast bowlers tend to be, so we were able to sneak the one.

"It's absolutely crazy how we won that game, and my part in it. I can't believe it, what a debut."

XI World Twenty20 Championship — Group Stage Group 2
Played at Greencaster Oval, Greencaster, Ko-oren (20-over match; T20I)
Eastfield Lodge v Liventia
Liventia won the toss and elected to field first
Liventia won by one wicket
Man of the match: RPT de Cerci (Liventia)

Eastfield Lodge innings (20 overs maximum)
Batsman							  R   B  4s  6s   SR
AM Samsurov		lbw b de Cerci			 28  35   2   0   80.00
M Accardi		b de Cerci			  6  15   0   0   40.00
Y Alder			c Edwards b MacMaster		 13  14   0   0   92.85
K Forbes†		c †Sarrin b Reynolds		 13   9   2   0  144.44
E O'Brien*		c Adams b Finney		 27  22   2   2  122.73
M Fears			c MacMaster b Adams		  9  11   1   0   81.82
I Madison		not out				 14  10   1   1  140.00
W Ben			run out (Adams)			  1   1   0   0  100.00
C Buck			not out				  6   4   1   0  150.00
  EXTRAS		(4b, 9wd, 1nb)			 14
  TOTAL			for 7 wickets (20.0 ov)		131 (6.55 runs per over)

Did not bat R Syed, R Hollis

FoW 1/27 Accardi 4.6, 2/51 Alder 9.3, 3/69 Forbes 11.4, 4/83 Samsurov 14.1,
    5/106 O'Brien 16.6, 6/111 Fears 17.6, 7/115 Ben 18.4

Liventia bowling
Bowler			Ov    M   R   W   Econ  Ext
SV Finney		4.0   0  23   1   5.75  (1wd)
JPK Adams		4.0   0  30   1   7.50  (1nb)
OH Kerr			3.0   0  15   0   5.00
RPT de Cerci		4.0   0  21   2   5.25  (2wd)
RJ MacMaster		3.0   0  19   1   6.33
E Reynolds		2.0   0  19   1   9.50  (1wd)


Liventia innings (target 132 from maximum 20 overs)
Batsman							  R   B  4s  6s   SR
DA Hennessey		b Hollis			  6   3   1   0  200.00
JCA Quinn		b O'Brien			 35  15   2   4  233.33
PD Finch		run out (Hollis)		 57  37   8   0  154.05
DHJ Edwards		c Hollis b Madison		 17  13   2   0  130.76
OH Kerr*		b Ben				  1   2   0   0   50.00
E Reynolds		c †Forbes b Ben			  5   4   1   0  125.00
MQ Sarrin†		b O'Brien			  9  13   0   0   69.23
RJ MacMaster		c Alder b Syed			  0   8   0   0    0.00
JPK Adams		c Samsurov b O'Brien		  0   1   0   0    0.00
SV Finney		not out				  0   0   0   0    ----
RPT de Cerci		not out				  1   1   0   0  100.00
  EXTRAS		(1lb)				  1
  TOTAL			for 9 wickets (16.1 ov)		132 (8.16 runs per over)

FoW 1/6 Henessey 0.3, 2/48 Quinn 3.6, 3/89 Edwards 8.2, 4/95 Kerr 9.1,
    5/101 Reynolds 9.6, 6/131 Sarrin 14.3, 7/131 Finch 14.5, 8/131 Adams 14.6,
    9/131 MacMaster 15.6

Eastfield Lodge bowling
Bowler			Ov    M   R   W   Econ  Ext
R Hollis		2.1   0  22   1  10.15
R Syed 			4.0   1  26   1   6.50
E O'Brien		3.0   0  26   3   8.67
I Madison		4.0   0  33   1   8.25
W Ben			3.0   0  24   2   8.00

Notes
PD Finch 50 off 31 balls, 8x4
T20I debut: RPT de Cerci (Liventia)

by **Ko-oren** » Thu Oct 18, 2018 12:18 pm

World Twenty20 Championships XI@Ko-oren

MD3 Results

Group A
West Phoenicia 136/5 (20 overs)
Ko-oren 140/6 (19.5 overs)

Elejamie 97/3 (20 overs)
Darmen 182/4 (20 overs)

Mughals royal 158/7 (19.5 overs)
The Plough Islands 155/6 (20 overs)

Group A               Pld   W  D  L 
1 Ko-oren                 3   3  0  0
2 Elejamie                3   2  0  1
  West Phoenicia          3   2  0  1
4 Darmen                  3   1  0  2
  Mughals royal           3   1  0  2
6 The Plough Islands      3   0  0  3

Group B
Northwest Kalactin 104/8 (20 overs)
Eastfield Lodge 107/9 (14.4 overs)

Mattijana 169/6 (20 overs)
Barunia 103/7 (20 overs)

Liventia 215/6 (20 overs)
Rooimervania 130 (17.2 overs)

Group B               Pld   W  D  L 
1 Mattijana               3   2  0  1
2 Barunia                 3   2  0  1
  Liventia                3   2  0  1
4 Eastfield Lodge         3   1  0  2
5 Northwest Kalactin      3   1  0  2
6 Rooimervania            3   1  0  2

by **The Plough Islands** » Thu Oct 18, 2018 3:10 pm

on the 19th October 2018, the Plough Islands Gazette wrote:
20-OVER WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP: FOXES COACH HENDRICKS CLEAR TO PLAY AFTER GCF TROUBLES
by Denis Wormwood, Sporting Correspondent, in Willowbourne

Ahead of today's match against tournament hosts and former 20-over world champions Ko-oren, a dispute between the Plough Islands Cricket Association and the Global Cricket Federation that had been threatening to boil over was resolved just hours before the start of the Group A meeting against the Dragonflies, as the GCF officially accepted the late addition of head coach Lourens Hendricks to the Foxes' playing squad.
The schedule of the event held on the Halcyon Archipelago has seen matches played back-to-back at the same ground on the same day, and with the Foxes having played eight games in thirteen days in what has been a surprise run to the top 12 of the tournament, many of the original squad named by the PICA have sustained injuries or succumbed to burnout as the championship has progressed. Opener and leg-spinner Matthew Davy was ruled out of the Plough Islands' remaining games after fracturing his hand while fielding in the surprise three-wicket defeat to the unheralded Mughals royal team yesterday, joining pace bowler Andrew Baxter (sprained ankle), batting all-rounder Shauna Weaver (thigh strain and exhaustion), and left-arm spinner Kenny Cunningham (side strain) on the sidelines, and as the distance and travel time to Ko-oren precludes the Foxes from being able to call up additional players, this presented a dilemma to captain Kevin Laing.
In order to be able to field a full bowling lineup for the remaining two Group A games, Laing and the PICA selectors opted to take the unusual step of fielding Hendricks - a right-handed batsman and leg-spinner who has been the Plough Islands' senior bowling coach since 2010, but has not played competitive cricket since 1992, and never above club level - but were initially blocked from doing so as the 51-year-old was not registered in the Foxes' initial 15-member squad. The GCF do provide a process for calling up replacements "in exceptional circumstances", but this author understands they were unwilling to accept Hendricks without him being registered as a player with the PICA as well, and in any case as this happened less than 24 hours before the start of the match it would require the agreement of the Ko-orenites for any changes to be made.
Following meetings with GCF officials and a meeting of the PICA committee 'back home' at December Park early this morning, however, the way was cleared after the association's Chair, Felicity Smith - and its President, Cde Premier Dale Piper - made representations to the GCF and secured the non-objection of Ko-oren, allowing Hendricks to play. Laing commented ahead of the game that "quite honestly, I wake up every day and think this tournament cannot get any more bizarre for us, but it contrives to do so...", while his coach was just looking forward to his debut; "ja, no, I'm glad that's all out of the way and I can look forward to Ko-oren, who have a special place in all our hearts I think. They're a good side and the people have been delightful to us so far - although I passed Herschel [Marsden, Ko-orenite captain] on the way here and I've already been informed that I'm a mercenary and a glory hunter!". Hendricks was optimistic about his team's chances - "we might be held together by string at the moment but we can still give teams a good game, we've got Naomi [Salisbury] and Sarah Ashe who've done well on these pitches - and I guess if needs be I can bowl a bit as well..."
The Foxes face Ko-oren in the first of today's games at the Royal Oval, with the hosts looking to continue their good form following a narrow win over tournament antagonists West Phoenicia, and the visitors looking to gain further tournament experience and renew acquaintances with their old Test foes and friends. Commentary of the game will be available on Plough Radio from 11:00.

PLOUGH ISLANDS CRICKET ASSOCIATION
XI FOR 20 OVER GAME VS.    KO-OREN

        PLAYER           BAT   BOW
#9  G   Holt             LHB      
#12 AC  Leggett          RHB   RLB
#2  RP  Aliyev           RHB      
#1  KCT Laing (c)        RHB   RMD
#5  TM  Bleasdale        RHB      
#8  AM  Donovan          RHB      
#11 IT  Lebed (w)        LHB      
#3  S   Ashe             RHB   ROB
#13 CG  McCarthy         RHB   RFM
#14 NA  Salisbury        LHB   SLA
ιϭ  LJ  Hendricks        RHB   RLB

TOURNAMENT STYLE MODIFIER:   - 2.5

by **West Phoenicia** » Fri Oct 19, 2018 1:39 am

A 4 run win was all it took for the Ko-oren cricket team to claim defeat today against The Lighting Bolts. Something that one would expect from the home side team who has an army of fans in the stands.
And while there were a few catcalls and taunts from the Ko-oren fans in the stadium, overall it did not affect the game play of the team.
And post game the Lighting Bolts were professional in shaken the hands of the other team and staying around to sign autographs and take pictures with fans.

The match showing how evenly matched both team are. Lighting Bolts coach Edward Mount-Alexander stated post game he would have done nothing different. The team played their roles well. It was a small defeat which we have suffered before, but it won't keep us down, only make us more hungry to win the next game to progress us to the semi-finals.

They next come up against Elejamie who are also 2 wins and 1 loss after a shocking defeat to Darmen. No doubt Elejamie coaching staff are thinking like West Phoenicia. They need to win to stand a chance to progress; West Phoenicia is in the same boat. A win against Elejamie would surely boost our chances of moving toward. We want a 4-1 moving forward.

Coach Edward Mount-Alexander has also confirmed they will be sticking with the current batting rotation for the moment, however if they reach the semi-finals he will move the Emanon brothers up to 1st and 3rd to use their batting talent to smash the runs out. Players have also been advised to take advantage of any run possible. Do not let the fear of being run out scare you. Do not waste a chance to raise our run rate.

by **Darmen** » Fri Oct 19, 2018 10:58 am

Disappointing Elejamie Destroyed by Darmen in Devastating Display

Elejamie 97/3 (20)-182/4 (20) Darmen

First Innings
                                   Runs Balls 4's 6's SR
V Acker      c S Halabi b Hamilton 28   13    3   1   215.38
S Winter     lbw b Novak           12    8    1   0   150.00
T Milligan   not out               79   44    6   3   179.55
E Ready      c Loughlin b Hamilton 43   35    4   2   122.86
I Odell      lbw b Mahler           7   11    0   0    63.64
A Armbruster not out               10    9    1   0   111.11
Extras                              3
Did Not Bat (D Gardenar, C McAlister, K Rosenfeld, D Myers & K Rosenfeld)

            Overs M  Runs W  Econ.
R Hamilton  4.0   0  29   2   7.25
D Slezinger 4.0   0  49   0  12.25
L Mahler    4.0   0  31   1   7.75
A Rodriguez 4.0   0  39   0   9.75
P Novak     4.0   0  34   1   8.50

Second Innings
                                  Runs Balls 4's 6's SR
S Loughlin  lbw b Dickenson       11   18    0   0   61.11
D Halabi    not out               39   51    4   1   76.47
R Hamilton  b McAlister           24   29    2   1   82.76
M Bentley   st Armbruster b Myers  3    7    0   0   42.86
K Entwistle not out               11   15    0   0   73.33
Extras                             9
Did Not Bat (R Montoya, S Halabi, D Slezinger, L Mahler, A Rodriguez & P Novak)

            Overs M  Runs W  Econ.
C McAlister 4.0   0  17   1  4.25  
D Gardenar  4.0   0  15   0  3.75
K Rosenfeld 4.0   0  13   0  3.25
A Dickenson 4.0   0  22   1  5.50
D Myers     4.0   0  30   1  7.50

by **Ko-oren** » Fri Oct 19, 2018 12:06 pm

World Twenty20 Championships XI@Ko-oren

MD4 Results

Group A
Ko-oren 198/7 (20 overs)
The Plough Islands 189/5 (20 overs)

Darmen 145/5 (13.5 overs)
Mughals royal 141/7 (20 overs)

West Phoenicia 172/6 (20 overs)
Elejamie 162/6 (20 overs)

Group A               Pld   W  D  L 
1 Ko-oren                 4   4  0  0
2 West Phoenicia          4   3  0  1
3 Darmen                  4   2  0  2
4 Elejamie                4   2  0  2
5 Mughals royal           4   1  0  3
6 The Plough Islands      4   0  0  4

Group B
Eastfield Lodge 144/8 (20 overs)
Rooimervania 147/6 (17.2 overs)

Barunia 116/9 (20 overs)
Liventia 188/9 (20 overs)

Northwest Kalactin 167/6 (20 overs)
Mattijana 121/3 (20 overs)

Group B               Pld   W  D  L 
1 Liventia                4   3  0  1
2 Northwest Kalactin      4   2  0  2
3 Rooimervania            4   2  0  2
4 Mattijana               4   2  0  2
5 Barunia                 4   2  0  2
6 Eastfield Lodge         4   1  0  3

by **The Plough Islands** » Fri Oct 19, 2018 3:47 pm

on the 19th October 2018, the Plough Islands Gazette wrote:
20-OVER WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP: KO-OREN EDGE FOXES IN FANTASTIC RUN-FILLED MATCH
by Denis Wormwood, Sporting Correspondent, in Willowbourne

The Plough Islands reacquainted themselves with the tournament hosts and group leaders Ko-oren in a good-natured match that provided lots of excitement but, unfortunately for the Foxes, failed to avenge the Test and series defeat suffered back in August on the same ground. On a pitch that had been rolled very flat and was more suited for playing tennis than cricket, Ko-oren stormed through their innings and set a daunting target of 199, almost half of which was thanks to a strong performance from young opener Carlton Shapter, before the Foxes fought back with a Stakhanovite late-innings partnership of 87 between Audrey Leggett and Arthur Donovan and looked at one point like they would take the chase down to the last ball, only for a run out and late stumble to leave Kevin Laing's side just nine runs short.
The sun had risen on a particularly lovely day for a game of cricket; the Gehrenna sky was wispy with unthreatening clouds, and with tickets for the Royal Oval being virtually free to get hold of, the small and persistent band of Plough Islander fans mingled freely with a near-capacity crowd of locals and interested neutrals. Inside the ground the stands were a psychedelic river of all shades of green and amber and yellow; it was a marked contrast from the ultra-serious, partisan, even occasionally toxic games that most of the rest of the group stage had produced. The respect shared between the two teams was obvious, and although the Ko-orenite batsmen and bench delighted in the pantomime of insinuating that coach Lourens Hendricks - a late addition to the Foxes' ever-dwindling playing squad, 52 in December, and a citizen of the Plough Islands since 2004 - had been brought in as a mercenary to boost the team's world ranking, there was barely a cross word exchanged otherwise.
Right from the first over, it was apparent that the Willowbourne pitch had plenty of runs in it, and Ko-oren wasted little time in scoring them - although the bounce and pace available, a world away from the Highrock Athletic Club that Colin McCarthy was more familiar with, played into the New Dalmatian's hands as well and he struck early on as Reginald Twaddle tried to play a bouncer and managed to somehow cut it directly down and into his stumps. Fellow opener Ezekiel Stevenson regrouped with Shapter, though, and the runs began to flow, especially from Shapter's bat - though the identity of his batting partner changed frequently as first Stevenson was caught in front by McCarthy, and then Naomi Salisbury, who had set a trap with a series of increasingly fuller length deliveries down the off side, sprung it as right-hander Patrick Willis lunged forward to meet a ball that slipped by him and Ilya Lebed finished off the stumping. By the middle of the innings, though, Shapter was well settled in and had been joined by a regular companion in Dennis Stanway as they dispatched the Foxes to all corners of the Royal Oval.
Hendricks had not played competitively since 1992 but had been keeping a reasonably tight line and causing occasional problems for the Dragonflies with his club legspin, but his moment came in the 14th over when - to cries of "Plastic!" and "Tourist visa!" - he trundled in and delivered a ripper that went through all of Stanway's defences and took out his middle stump, prompting celebrations from the Foxes and from most of the crowd that could have fooled the casual observer into thinking the team sitting bottom of group A had won the entire tournament. Stanway departed on 32, and the Dragonflies' momentum was further slowed when Sarah Ashe struck twice in four balls the next over to dismiss the Mawryshire pair of Llowcan yRheighewn (7) and Seophyn yMharwn (1), although by this point it was clear the target would be a high one on what was a beautifully flat and forgiving pitch.
Wicketkeeper Theryn yCherwean came in to join Shapter, and responded to the returning pace of McCarthy by standing his ground and flicking the ball through gaps in the outer fielding circle to keep the runs coming, and the pair took the total for the Dragonflies well past 150 as the Foxes began to tire of chasing the ball to the boundaries and back. Shapter by now had his sights on more than just the team's total, with his own score having passed 80 with three overs to go, he began to look for opportunities to get up to three figures. Ultimately he would come up just short; yCherwean, having scored 25 from eleven, misjudged a McCarthy inswinger with four balls to go and caught it uncleanly, leaving the ball to drop to Donovan, and with Shapter unable to get the strike back from new man Albin Raycraft he was left on 96 not out. Ko-oren, however, had accumulated a mammoth 198 runs, leaving the Foxes needing almost 10 per over from the outset to have any chance of victory.
The challenge was accepted; Graeme Holt and Leggett, reunited after performing well together in the qualification stage, began the second innings with a flurry of sweeps and slogs that caught the attention of both the fielders and the crowd, adding 48 from just 29 balls for the first wicket as the Foxes belied their losing streak and burnt out air to make their intentions clear. Holt (25) was eventually caught by yCherwean from the thinnest of edges off Lachlan Harvey, and Leggett tried to carry on the flame, but found herself in a similar position to Shapter as a succession of players failed to dig in as the openers had; Rory Aliyev lasted for most of an agonising maiden over before being trapped lbw trying to slog Ko-orenite captain Herschel Marsden, and though Laing (18) did stick around for a short while - sending a six crashing back over yRheighewn's head and out of sight in the process, and requiring the umpires to fetch a new ball - it was not until Donovan came in at 92-4 that the flow of wickets was stemmed, and by now the target seemed distant.
Leggett was in her element on the still-bouncy pitch, hoicking the Dragonflies' bowlers to whichever boundary was most convenient at regular intervals, but Donovan took some time to really get going; the Redcliff right-hander scored just five runs from his first fifteen balls, and at one point was taking regular breaks in between deliveries to practice his technique almost like a golf swing. Once he did, however, the Foxes were suddenly flying again, with Donovan meeting seemingly everything with the middle of the bat, and Marsden forced into some unusual bowling choices in an attempt to break the partnership; this failed to have the desired effect, with Raycraft (0-38) and part-timer yRheighewn (0-33) suffering particularly, and when the pair hit the former for 19 off the sixteenth over, the run chase was very much back on.
The excitement reached a crescendo, until the last ball of the 18th over took a deflection towards square leg from Leggett and the opener instinctively and immediately went for the run, despite some hesitation from her partner; Harvey ran in from fine leg and, had he been aiming for the striker's end, would have found his path obscured by a rushing Donovan and an erratically moving yCherwean. As it was, he went the other way, and found Leggett short of her ground by less than a finger's width; she was gone for 72, and - realistically - with her went the Foxes' best chance for an unlikely victory. This was not to say that Donovan and new man Lebed did not try, though, and though yMharwn proved virtually unplayable and allowed just two singles, Harvey's final over lacked the menace of his earlier efforts, and Lebed scored boundaries from successive balls before Donovan smashed another huge six into the overgrowth to bring the Foxes to a final total of 189 - just nine runs short, and a spectacular effort that earned the requisite appreciation from a home crowd that were magnanimous in their victory.
The result confirmed the hosts' qualification to the semi-finals of the competition, and Laing was the first to congratulate his counterpart; "Herschel's leadership has been brilliant, I honestly feel we gave the game everything every one of us could and I feel a lot more satisfaction now than perhaps the last few games...we came really close and showed we could compete on that level in this format, and that is something I am very proud of". Donovan, who had finished with a well-deserved half century after coming within two shots of victory, said that "in all honesty, myself and Audrey thought by the time it got to fifteen or sixteen overs that we had missed our chance, we thought the window had closed, so we thought "just score as much as we can" and...to come so close after they had scored nearly 200 was great, it was beyond what we thought we could do". Donovan also felt the game was "the best of the tournament so far for me, I am shattered but it was really good fun", and Hendricks - fresh from taking a wicket on debut - was similarly enthused, telling this author "I know what I've missed all these years now! It was a wonderful experience and Ko-oren performed brilliantly and we can take a lot of heart from the game, and I don't think I'm going to forget that celebration in a hurry...".
With the qualification for the semi-finals from group A having effectively been decided, tomorrow's rematch against World Test Challenge champions Darmen is effectively a dead rubber, with the Foxes only having pride to play for; with no new injury concerns, both Laing and Hendricks confirmed that there were no plans to make any changes to the team for what will be the last match of the tournament and tour for the Plough Islands. Today's game - the highest scoring match of the tournament so far by a considerable margin - raised the morale of the team and those who follow them considerably, and there is even a tinge of sadness at the competition drawing to a close from some of the players; however, they will leave the Ko-orenite archipelago with a great deal more tournament experience than they arrived with, and memories to cherish forever. Tomorrow represents an opportunity to finish the competition on a high note for the Foxes, and as the last players and fans finally drifted away from the Royal Oval, there was little to suggest they were not capable of taking it.

PLOUGH ISLANDS CRICKET ASSOCIATION
XI FOR 20 OVER GAME VS.     DARMEN

        PLAYER           BAT   BOW
#9  G   Holt             LHB      
#12 AC  Leggett          RHB   RLB
#2  RP  Aliyev           RHB      
#1  KCT Laing (c)        RHB   RMD
#5  TM  Bleasdale        RHB      
#8  AM  Donovan          RHB      
#11 IT  Lebed (w)        LHB      
#3  S   Ashe             RHB   ROB
#13 CG  McCarthy         RHB   RFM
#14 NA  Salisbury        LHB   SLA
#16 LJ  Hendricks        RHB   RLB

TOURNAMENT STYLE MODIFIER:   - 2.5

by **West Phoenicia** » Fri Oct 19, 2018 11:23 pm

The West Phoenician Lighting Bolts are holding off on celebrating too much about the thought of progressing to the semi-finals until the final match.

A 10 run win against Elejamie was what they needed to release the tension of either possible progressing or leaving the championship early. Elejamie showed off some fine batting skills on the day that unnerved the coaching staff. While the Lighting Bolts have had smaller run difference the fierce determination of the Elejamie cricket players had West Phoenicians fans on the edge of the seats. And it wasn't until the last few balls of the last over that coaching staff were able to breathe a little easier when the realisation hit that Elejamie would not obtain the runs needed.

The Emanon brothers, Jack Tennessee and Grey Gryphon were the best Lighting Bolts batters of the day securing 146 of the 172 runs.

The Lighting Bolts will next play Mughals royal who have only won one game. And the Lighting Bolts are going into the game with an air of confidence that they can pull off a win. In saying that if they lose they may face a three way tie with Darmen and Elejamie if they also win their next matches.

The knowledge that the Lighting Bolts beats both teams and have a high run rate should secure the team into the number 2 spot. Where they will face off against Liventia who will no doubt place first in the group B rankings.

by **Ko-oren** » Sat Oct 20, 2018 1:46 am

Home advantage sees Dragonflies win four straight

The home advantage is now well and truly alive and established, as the Dragonflies win the first four matches of the Group Stage of the T20 World Championships. After wins over Darmen and Mughals Royal, wins over West Phoenicia and the Plough Islands were tagged on and will send the Dragonflies to the semifinals with one match left to play (versus Elejamie). In fact, Group A is settled a day in advance, West Phoenicia won their three matches apart from their game versus us and are uncatchable for Darmen and Elejamie on Day 5. Group B is still wide-open, except for the eliminated Eastfield Lodge. Liventia has the highest chance of reaching the semis, but Northwest Kalactin, Rooimervania, Mattijana and Barunia are all not eliminated yet.

The Day 3 clash with West Phoenicia is likely the toughest match played so far. Ranked first and third on the world rankings, going into the World Championships with excellent teams and performing fantastically through the first 8 matches, these were to hot teams laying siege to each other. The Lightning Bolts batted first, supported by a sizeable contingent of red-blue fans that have made a name for themselves in the short weeks the tournament has gone on for. They've been everything from eyebrow-raising (making more noise than other fans) to tut-worthy (inviting their local celebrities to large functions at the match itself) to downright offensive (burning a giant dragonfly in the parking lot of the Oval), but they've given this tournament a certain flavour - nothing that should be matched by fans of our domestic T20 teams, but hopefully it influences some fan cultures here and there, should make things more important next season. The Lightning Bolts have been somewhat polite during and after the match, going through the motions of shaking hands and staying for autographs.

In the first innings, the Lightning Bolts scored 136. This score would've often been enough in the qualification stage, but in the group stages we've seen higher scores much more often, and 136 was actually the second lowest run total for any Group A team that day. With five wickets in hand, they could've gone for a bit more oomph at the end. Then again, the Lightning Bolts have a highly unorthodox batting order including just two bowlers, two allrounders so barely making the minimum requirements for bowling, a wicketkeeper and six batsmen. Surely with a lineup like this, you should expect a solid run rate down to the 20th over and the 10th wicket? What's even more unorthodox is that there are still batsmen coming on to the crease at 8th and 10th, and they haven't even faced a ball this match, for instance. What's the point of such a deep batting lineup if they're unlikely to make a difference? In the end, the Dragonflies took five wickets: two in the first two overs, and the remaining three in the final quarter of the match. South looked shaken coming on to the field, and wasn't confident in the five balls he faced, eventually disappearing for two from five, and a surprising bounce on a straight ball from Marsden just nudged the bails off, and South was gone. Millington fell in the next over, as Harvey gave him a few full tosses and yorkers, then stepping out for a full toss that came to a bounce underneath the bat and took out middle stump. The lack of Ko-orenite bowling variety hurt the team in the next 13 overs. Marsden, Harvey and yMharwn all specialise in fast bowling, all as right-handers, and Raycraft is the odd one out as a spinning leftie. Raycraft saw enough use as time went on to bring some sort of heat to Gryphon and Tennessee. In between his spells, at least the fast bowling kept the score somewhat low. When Gryphon finally fell (caught by Stanway at midwicket, bowled by Raycraft), Tennessee was dispatched shortly after, and Narre's wicket was taken on the next ball. The Emanon brothers closed out the rest of the match, to end up at 5 for 136.

Ko-oren doesn't exactly have the high-octane batsmen to easily top 136, but away they went. Stevenson and Twaddle started out gauging the pitch, outfield and the bowlers, of which West Phoenicia doesn't have many so that was an easy task. There were a few easy fours as West Phoenicia was figuring out fielding, but as the overs went on, the run rate fell and 136 looked more and more out of reach. On top of that, a wicket fell about every 2,5 overs so no partnership really looked comfortable. Twaddle went in the third over (edged around off stump), then Shapter went in over 5 (bowled and caught by Church), Willis and Stevenson in over 8 (run out and lbw by Church), and with Stanway and yRheighewn there was the first stable partnership for about 5 overs. yRheighewn went in over 14, and yMharwn was completely ineffective, losing his wicket in the same over. Stanway and yCherwean then closed out the match, needing 13 runs in the final over.

19.1 Narre to Stanway, 2 runs, straight drive nearly taking out yCherwean, good length, slightly towards the on-side.
19.2 Narre to Stanway, no runs, short bouncer hit above the shoulder by Stanway, dropped by Millington. Missed chance for West Phoenicia.
19.3 Narre to Stanway, 6 runs, Stanway sees this one coming from a mile away. Bends his knees a little, brings the bat under the ball and makes it fly straight back over Narre. Too easy by Narre, well spotted by Stanway.
19.4 Narre to Stanway, 4 runs, Narre just can't get the seam to dip exactly where he wants it. Delivers a good ball to leg-stump, might have been called wide if Stanway had let it go. Instead he hooks it to where there are no fielders, quick outfield helps to get the boundary.
19.5 Narre to Stanway, 4 runs, Narre looks visibly nervous as Stanway gets his way and now suddenly 124 runs at the start of this over have turned into 136 - it's a tie. Narre once again fully depends on deviation caused by the seam hitting a spot on the pitch, delivers it good down the middle. Cover drive by Stanway, lucky not to hit it any further near Tennessee, and Ko-oren get the run they need - but the ball rolls on and hits the rope anyway.

In match 4, Ko-oren and the Plough Islands put on a batting masterclass. They combine for the highest total runs of any match of this World Championships, and the Dragonflies prove that they can, in fact, bat if their lives depend on it. At nearly 10 runs per over, this was as perfect a performance as anyone could've wanted - but still had its low moments, as Twaddle comically took himself out. Later, Stanway, the hero of West Phoenicia and so far settling in nicely with the amazing Shapter, was taken out by Hendricks - a name only remembered by trivia fans of late 80s foreign cricket, if that. Back to the high moments: Shapter eventually ended on 96 not out, sad for those who wanted a century, but an absolutely insane total for anyone else. Stanway (bowled by Hendricks!!) ended as the second best batsman for 32, yCherwean put up resistance of his own for 25, and Stevenson opened for 14. The rest either didn't bat or finished under 10 (Twaddle, Willis, yRheighewn and yMharwn). The Plough Islands then did to our bowlers what they first did to ours, send them from boundary to boundary on a very fast outfield. Leggett scored 72, Donovan scored 53, and for a moment they looked like winning their first match of the Group Stage. In the end, they were about an over short, and in the parallel universe of T21 cricket, the Plough Islands firmly hold a win.

The Dragonflies close the series against Elejamie, knowing they already hold a spot in the semifinals.

World Twenty20 Championships XI - Everything Thread (IC)

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