Ireland U15s triumph again

Irish U15 Captain receives the trophy from Tournament Director David Jukes

Ireland secured an eighth successive ICC European Under-15 Championship title after beating Scotland by 49 runs in Devanter.

Victory came in spite of a dramatic batting collapse where eight wickets fell for just 37 runs.

Invited to bat first after losing the toss, Ireland were quickly in trouble when Robin Russell was sent back but Jason van der Merwe and Shane Getkate added 52 for the second wicket, and Getkate and Dean Mehaffey then put on 77 for the third.

At this point the Irish were coasting at 129 for two, but a drinks break following the run out of Mehaffey proved disruptive to their concentration and marked the start of their downfall.

Getkate was caught for 71 by Patrick Sadler off his own bowling in the first over after the break and the other seven Irish wickets fell in quick succession with all the Scottish bowlers sharing the spoils. Aman Bailwal, Kris Mein and Freddie Coleman picked up two wickets.

Set 167 to win against the best seam attack in the tournament, the Scottish batsmen made a disastrous start. Getkate collected one wicket and Eoghan Conway two, to reduce Scotland to 9 for three before spectators had properly settled after lunch.

There was little way back from there, and despite dogged innings from Michael Anderson (17), Andrew Chalmers (15) and Andrew Lewis (22) the Scottish batsmen never really mastered the mighty Irish attack.

Jonathan Andrews took 3-31 in his nine-over spell and Scotland’s innings was brought to a close on 117 with more than four overs left.

Thriller to decide third place

The bowlers dominated completely in the match to decide third place, where The Netherlands won the toss and elected to field. Nikkie Vieler and Dennis Coster took full advantage of the new ball and, assisted by some fine work in the field, they soon had the Danes on the back foot at 16 for three.

Then Paul van Meekeren contributed an excellent four-over spell of 3-12, including two wickets off successive balls as Denmark slumped to 31 for six.

The last four wickets almost doubled the score thanks to Hamid Mazhar Shah, who was not only top scorer with 31, but the only Danish batsman to reach double figures. Vieler came back to remove him then took two more wickets to finish off the innings, ending with figures of 4-20.

The Danish total of 60 should have presented few problems to the Dutch batsmen but Denmark had other ideas. The Netherlands reached 30 for two easily enough then Shah followed up his efforts with the bat with a destructive spell that turned the game. He took 5-20 in his nine overs including a hat-trick and the Dutch were left staring down a barrel at 38 for six.

Skipper Jaap Dickmann offered some resistance, and in the context of this low-scoring game, his stand of 15 with Vieler brought his side within sight of victory.

Then Kamran Mahmood removed Vieler and with the Dutch total on 59, Shah had Dickmann leg-before. Tom Brown dismissed Usman Yousuf and, with the last pair together, a wide brought the scores level.

A few dot balls followed but the tension became unbearable when the batsmen made a desperate dash for a winning leg-bye only to see the bails broken by a smart return from mid wicket, leaving the scores tied.

The exemplary fielding proved to be in vain, as the comparison of the totals at 15 overs led to the match being awarded to The Netherlands who had the advantage by three runs. Still, the Danes’ courageous battle gave them a positive end to a difficult week, and may have contributed to their being awarded the Spirit of Cricket award.

Irish all-rounder Shane Getkate was declared the Player of the Tournament for his efforts with both bat and ball.