A European sub-regional qualifier in Finland wouldn't normally get the attention of the mainstream cricket press, but the debut of former Australian international Moises Henriques for Portugal - the country of his birth - got attention yesterday, with the recently retired from Australian domestic cricket player captaining Portugal on debut.
He made an immediate impact for the side that finished fifth in their last sub-regional qualifier two years ago. Coming in at the fall of the second wicket after Dhavalkumar Norotam and Cameron Shekelton - himself a Portugal debutant today, who plays in the second tier of South African domestic cricket - had added 66, he clubbed 66 from only 39 balls to help his team post 163-4 from their 20 overs.
The Israelis offered little in the way of resistance in their reply, being restricted to 69-9 and losing by 94 runs. Edward Fleming was the pick of the Portugeuse bowlers with 3-11.
Henriques is interviewed after the match (Portuguese Cricket Federation)
In the other match of the morning session, hosts Finland batted first against Spain and scored 131-9, Aravind Mohan top scoring with an unbeaten 57. Spain chased down their target in 16.4 overs to win by eight wickets with Yasir Ali (40) and Daniel Doyle-Calle (49) adding an unbroken 91 to secure the win.
In the afternoon session, Luxembourg were bowled out for 116 by the Isle of Man, with only Timothy Barker (44) making a contribution of note. Matthew Ansell and Corbin Liebenberg both took four wickets for the Manxmen. Adam McAuley top scored with 50 in the Manx reply, helping his team win by eight wickets wiith three overs to spare.
In the afternoon game in Group B, Germany showed why they're Portugal's main challengers for top spot in Group B by scoring 221-5 in their 20 overs against Czechia. Joshua van Heerden top scored with 74 from 47 balls, sharing in a 136 run partnership for the fourth wicket with Fayaz Khan, who finished the innings unbeaten on 65. Sazib Bhuiyan scored 71 for the Czech side in their reply, but their next highest score was 19 and they were kept to 160-7 from their 20 overs, losing by 61 runs.
