Week two lived up the expectations set by the first week of international T10 action, as the Netherlands XI will go ahead and join Spain and the England XI in Championship Week after a powerful display throughout Group B.
After a lackluster performance in the first four days of action, it was Hungary who would miss out on finals day after only winning one of their eight round robin matches. With new talent coming into the ranks and under the leadership of a new board however, the future is certainly bright for the Hungarian cricket team with the Du Plooy brothers bringing a wealth of experience to the team for the years to come.
Finals day of group B was set up to a showcase of tight T10 action and that's exactly what was delivered. It was the Netherlands XI who were first to book their place in the final as they were victorious by 48 runs over a strong Sweden outfit in qualifier 1. Musa Ahmed set the tone for the Dutch with a quickfire 35 off of only 9 balls - the first 8 deliveries he faced all went to the boundary - as he finally held out to be caught by Jyoti. The explosive batting continued for all 10 overs as they set 144/7 which just proved to be too much for the Swedes as they fell 48 runs short.
Sweden would watch on eagerly as Finland took on Denmark in the all important eliminator. Finland were the surprise package of the week, finishing third in the group meant they went into the eliminator as slight favorites in the scandinavian derby. Finland setting 106 for the Danes to chase just wasn't enough as Shangeev Thanikaithasan simply took the game out of Finland by hitting 43 off 16 balls. Punishing the Finish bowlers with 7 boundaries to his name, meant Denmark would go on to face Sweden in qualifier 2.
Finland once again proved to be the dark horses of group B, surprising the world with a shock early victory in game 4 over Denmark. Players such as Jonathan Scamans and Peter Gallagher went from strength to strength pulling Finland through a successful tournament and will be looking to take this run of good form into the longer formats of international cricket.
Sweden would go ahead to bat first in the second qualifier, and were able to post a respectable 97/7 off of 10 overs, with Umar Nawaz once again being the main contributor to the run total with 33 runs with 3 sixes… whilst batting at number three. It seemed as if Sweden would go onto meet the Dutch in the final when Denmark lost three early wickets with just 17 runs on the board. However, Danish-born Magnus Christensen alongside Musa Mahmood were able to steady the ship with a match winning partnership worth 81 and drag Denmark from the depths of despair and hit the winning 6 to take the Danes through to the final of Group B.
Sweden, after losing a tri-series event just months prior to the ECC, had clearly been working hard to master their skills and develop a clear understanding of each players’ role. The hard work had paid off but just fell at the penultimate hurdle not being able to utilize their two chances to get to the final. Having been led excellently by Shazeb Choudhary who finished with an average of 42.50 with the bat and 9 wickets, Sweden will be able to take many positives out of the week and develop cricket even further in Sweden.
The final was to be the predicted final with fans before the week opting for the likely final of Denmark vs the Netherlands XI. The Danish captain took the first morale victory as they won the toss and elected to bowl first as they fancied the chase under the lights at the picturesque Cartama Oval.
There was no doubt in the quality of the Dutch batting outfit as all but 2 batters reached double figures and made healthy contributions. Saqib Zulfiqar and Olivier Elenbaas were the crucial partnership, and with some devastating hitting, got the Netherlands XI up to 134/6.
The Danish top order failed once again, but with the situation being all but too familiar for the likes of Saran Aslam and Magnus Kristensen, they built a vital fightback. It was little too late for the Danes though as off spinner Aryan Dutt - who at just 19 years of age has one of the biggest wickets to his name in the form of Babar Azam - picked up 3 wickets in his spell to dismantle any hope that Denmark still had left. The Netherlands XI restricted Denmark to just 119/6 and won by 15 runs to make through to Championship Week.
A strong Netherlands XI will return in a fortnight's time to take on confirmed teams of Spain and last year's winners, England XI. Two weeks of group action remain before the 10th of October when Championship Week of the European Cricket Championship gets underway!
