The Isle of Man staged a great recovery in the ICC Europe Division One Championship.
After losing their first three games, the Manx roared back to win two of their last three matches.
On Thursday they faced Belgium, knowing that defeat would have meant relegation. The Belgians got away to a fine start with an opening stand of 51. Then Alex Stokoe came on and ripped through the middle order. In a splendid spell, he took 5-21 from his four overs.
Belgium were dismissed for 110 and the island went after the runs with a vengeance. Opener Jaco Jansen hit 30 from 24 balls while Max Stokoe made a solid 38.
However from 92 for 2 the island slumped to 106 for 5 as the overs began to run out. In a tense finish, Alex Stokoe kept his head. With four runs needed for victory from the last four balls, he hit a boundary to win the match.
On Friday the final group match was against Jersey, who needed a win to get into the semi-finals. They won the toss and batted, but came up against some fine Isle of Man bowling.
Dan Hawke and Garreth Roome took two wickets each and the Jersey boys were in deep trouble at 99 for 8. Their tail-enders then battled away and took the final score to 141.
Any hopes of an island victory were quickly dashed. The top order had major problems and at 24 for 4 Jersey were well on top.
Wickets continued to fall despite a valiant 35 from skipper Luke Lacey. Ollie Webster cracked 20, but the team ended on 109 for 8 to lose by 32 runs.
On the other pitch at Henfield, Belgium were faring even worse. They went down to a heavy defeat against division leaders Denmark who strode to 199 for 4.
In reply Belgium were never in the hunt and crashed to a colossal defeat by 124 runs which also wrecked their net run rate. They finished bottom of the group with the island one place above them on the same number of points but having a superior run rate.
Saturday afternoon saw a confident Isle of Man batter Gibraltar in the ranking match for ninth place in the Championship. Brilliant bowling by Akkie Van Den Berg destroyed the Rock’s batsmen. In four overs he conceded only nine runs and took three wickets.
Alex Stokoe claimed two wickets as Gibraltar were pinned back to 110 for 7 from their 20 overs.
The Manx stormed to win by seven wickets with more than two overs left. Jaco Jansen ended on 46 not out and Phil Littlejohns made 38 before being caught. He had a brilliant tournament, scoring a total of 212 runs which was the fifth highest aggregate out of the 12 competing nations.
The Isle of Man players showed tremendous spirit to recover over those final days. Even in their defeats they had held good positions and worried their opponents. The experience will be invaluable for future years.
ICC Europe Division One
Gibraltar 110 for 7 (Ken Ferrary 28no : Akkie van den Berg 3 -9, Alex Stokoe 2 -25); Isle of Man 114 for 3 (Jaco Jansen 46no, Phil Littlejohns 38, Ollie Webster 16no : Ken Mirpuri 1 -19). Isle of Man won by seven wickets.
Belgium 119 (Nivram Shah 35, Ali Raza 27 : Alex Stokoe 5 -21, Jaco Jansen 1 -14); Isle of Man 120 for 5 (Max Stokoe 38, Jaco Jansen 3O : Shaival Mehta 2 -20,Amir Iqbal 1 -14). Isle of Man won by five wickets.:
Jersey 142 (Ben Stevens 28, Peter Gough 26 : Alex Stokoe 3 -12, Garreth Roome 2 -17).; Isle of Man 109 for 8 (Luke Lacey 35, Ollie Webster 20: Cornelis Bodenstein 3 -27, Ben Stevens 2 -16). Jersey won by 32 runs.
l Cronkbourne have boosted their lead at the top of the Standard Bank Premiership. On Saturday they defeated second-placed Peel and St John’s by 10 wickets to open up a 20-point lead at the top.
The Mullen-e-Cloie side were well placed at 66 for 1 before Phil Richardson swung the match. He took three wickets as the side fell away to 112 all out. Skipper Alex Williamson batted well for 24 and opener Will Bayley top scored with a very good 31.
The western club then had no answer to the aggressive play of Cronkbourne openers David Smith and Simon Beard. They knocked off the runs in 14 overs with Smith battering 72 and Beard making 33.
Valkyres continued their good recent form by making 235 for 7 at Ramsey. Marc Furness starred for the Douglas side with 92, Toby Carter made 36 and Tom Reader 28. Pick of the bowlers was Andy Ball who had a superb spell to return 3-27.
In reply Ramsey was indebted to a battling century from Grant Atchison. Opening the innings, he scored an excellent 100 not out as his side ended on 188 for 4.
Castletown secured a narrow 16-run win over Crosby at King William’s College. Wicus Wessels again dominated for Town with 92 out of his side’s final score of 194.
The Crosby batsmen went after the runs and were in the hunt until the closing overs. Jacob Hicklin hit 49 and Jack Rowlands 34, but a flurry of wickets fell as the Marown side closed in on their target. In the end they fell just short, despite a valiant 27 not out from Harry Rothwell.
Standard Bank Premiership
Peel and St John’s 112 (Will Bayley 31, Alex Williamson 24 : Phil Richardson 3 -27, Will Wood 2 -16); Cronkbourne 113 for 0 (David Smith 72no, Simon Beard 33no). Cronkbourne won by 10 wickets. Castletown 194 (Wicus Wessels 92, Seb Aycock 27no : Dave Picken 3-26, Joe Rothwell 3-35); Crosby 178 (Jacob Hicklin 44, Jack Rowlands 34: Andy Ronan 2-22, Seb Aycock 2-33). Castletown won by 16 runs. Valkyres 235 for 7 (Marc Furness 92, Toby Carter 34 : Andy Ball 3-27, Brian Arnold 1-18); Ramsey 188 for 4 (Grant Atchison 100no, Rob Webber 15 : Abdul Khan 2 -33, Chris Langford 1 -20). Valkyres won by 47 runs.