CIYMS will get two bites of the cherry to win a place in the Euro T10 Final, as they emerge unbeaten at the end of the Round-Robin matches.
The Irish Champions were first in action this morning against Farmers of Jersey and it was the familiar pairing of Jason van der Merwe and Chris Dougherty who set CI on their way in a first wicket partnership worth 89 before Dougherty fell for 36 off 17 balls. Van der Merwe has been in tremendous form this week, and his 70 off just 30 balls took his runs total to 501 making him the first player to pass 500 in the three years of the competition's existance. He now averages 63 at a strike rate of 233, hitting 44 sixes along the way with hopefully more to come tomorrow.
Farmers reply was dominated by a magnificent 83 off 27 balls (3x4,10x6) from Zak Tribe, but needing 16 off Carson McCullough's final over, he was out to the first ball, McCullough picking up another 2 wickets to finish with figures of 2 overs, 4 wickets for 4 runs seeing CIYMS winners by 12 runs.
Six out of Six for the Irish champions who will play second placed on Finals Day tomorrow, knowing that even if they lose, they will have a second chance to make the Final playing against the Winners of 3rd and 4th places.
Closest game of the day featured Dreux of France, versus last year's 'Kings' Pak-I-Care Badalona with Dreux, for whom Muhammad Rafah scored 60 off 21 balls and Mohammad Nisar 50*, defending 133/4 by the narrowest of margins.
Daniel Doyle-Calle has been the star performer for the Spaniards and was in the runs again scoring 41 off 28 and Muhammad Ihsan 36 off 17.
Pak-I-Care went into the last over needing 10 runs for the win - a 'dot' then a single from Doyle-Calle, a Six from Usman Khan off the third, followed by a single from the fourth meant that Doyle-Calle was facing needing 1 for a Tie and 2 for the win. He missed with a slog-sweep, the ball ricocheting off his pads and he was run out to start huge Dreux celebrations.
Farmers lost to Hornchurch by 6 wickets in a game which would see the winner claim a place in Finals Day, while the losers would take no further part.
Batting first Farmers struggled to 82/6, with no one managing more than Rhys Palmer's 14. Marc Whitlock and Mark James each took two wickets for Hornchurch, who would have been confident of a successful chase of the Farmers modest total.
In the end it took them into the ninth over to achieve the win, George Hankins with 34 off 17 and Chris Sains with 21* off 10 seeing them to a 6 wickets win. Tony Britton the pick of the Farmers bowlers with 2-17.
There was only pride at stake in the Beveren versus Sporting Alfas 'Wooden Spoon' playoff, as neither side could make the Finals.
Batting first Sporting Alfas posted 98/7 with Awais Ahmed (29) and Greg Smith (24) the top scorers while for Beveren Salarzai Israel took 3-14.
Beveren had been winless all week but Hakim Khaksar (43) and Hadisullah Tarakhel (23*) steered them to to a 6 wicket victory with two overs to spare, and gave the Belgians something to cheer, as they climbed off the bottom of the table and above their final opponents on NRR.
The final match of the day pitted Dreux against Hornchurch in a game where only a massive win for either would see them overtake Pak-I-Care on NRR and avoid a second meeting between the two again tomorrow in the Eliminator.
But that's exactly what happened!!!
Dreux got off to a flyer with Hamza Niaz and Ahmad Nabi rattling up 88 in the first five overs and kept on going adding a further 101 in the second five!
Their unbroken first wicket partnership saw Dreux post 189/0 - Niaz with a spectacular 115 off just 35 deliveries, 104 of those runs coming in boundaries as he cleared the ropes 12 times and found the boundary another 8 times. Nabi was equally impressive with his 66* taking only 25 balls, 61 coming in boundaries (3x4, &x6).
The game was as good as over at the innings break and a dispirited Hornchurch could only manage 66 in reply, bowled out in 9 overs.
A massive 124 run win for Dreux, a huge jump in their NRR, and they leap into second place in the table, ensuring them that second bite at the cherry that a top two finish guarantees.
So the line up for tomorrow's Finals Day is:
10.30: A - CIYMS (1) v (2) - Dreux (2) - Winner direct to Final
12.30: B - Pak-I-Care Badalona (3) v Hornchurch (4) -
3.30: Winner of B v Loser of A for place in Final.
6.30 Final