Cyprus pull off famous win against Romania after Isle of Man setback

By Richard Boxall
The Cyprus cricket team pulled off a famous 20-run victory over Romania in the European Qualifiers for the World T20 this week, a day after a disappointing loss to Isle of Man.
Cyprus remain in contention to win the event, and have further games against Turkey and Serbia before a play-off match on Monday.

Romania had won 20 of their previous 24 international T20 matches, and thus presented a stiff challenge to Cyprus at the Tikkurila ground near Helsinki.

Despite a rain delay after just three balls, Cyprus made a good start, reaching 100 at the start of the 15th over for the loss of only two wickets. Shoaib Ahmed made a good 30 to get the innings going, and there followed a crucial partnership, featuring excellent running between the wickets, by Akila De Silva and Scott Austin, who both scored 34.

Big hitters Tejtinder Singh and Gurpartap Singh came together for the last few overs with licence to attack, and took 24 runs from the 17th over. Both were then caught and Cyprus were unable to fully capitalise in the last couple of overs, but their total of 154-8 gave them real hope on this ground with its slow outfield and big boundaries.

Romania’s openers hit a 6 in each of the first two overs of their reply, but Cyprus skipper Gurpartap brought himself on to steady things, taking two wickets for three runs in his two-over spell.
Romania recovered with some sensible batting, aided by a glut of no-balls, and the match was evenly poised when the fifth wicket fell at 88. But the Cyprus bowlers kept things tight by bowling accurately and taking wickets before any batsman could really get going. Most catches were held, including an excellent one by Neeraj Tiwari diving forward at deep mid-wicket, and in the end Romania fell 20 runs short on 134-9.

All five bowlers used by Cyprus performed well, conceding between 21 and 29 runs each from their 4 overs. Gurpartap (3) and Shoaib, Tiwari and Tejwinder (2 each) took the wickets and were well supported by a tidy spell from Sadun Chamal.

The previous day Cyprus’ campaign got off to a disappointing start with a very heavy defeat against a young and eager Isle of Man team at the Kerava ground.
Although Cyprus reached a healthy 52-1 in the 6-over powerplay, with Shoaib and Sadun passing 20, too many scoring opportunities were missed and the team became bogged down as well as losing wickets frequently, as they subsided to 120 all out.

The Cyprus bowling lacked control and discipline as they failed to trouble the Manxmen. George Burrows hit 69 not out to follow his brother Joe’s 4 wickets for 16. As if to rub it in, Cyprus took two “wickets” from free hits following no-balls, which pretty much summed up their day.

Lessons were learned from this defeat, and Cyprus bounced back well against Romania, restoring a smile to the faces of captain and coach.