Rain frustrates the leaders as Ireland rediscover winning form
ICC Europe/CricketEurope
Torrential rain in the late afternoon caused the abandonment of the big match between Guernsey and Scotland in Deventer on Wednesday, and the two sides will have to return to the Salland CC ground on Thursday to replay a game which Scotland seemed well on the way to winning.
The other two games managed to beat the weather, Denmark triumphing over the Netherlands so comprehensively that the match was over before the worst of the rain arrived, while in Utrecht Ireland secured a 142-run victory over Jersey despite a couple of interruptions.
Somewhat surprisingly in view of the weather forecast, Scotland elected to bat first on winning the toss, and they proceeded to run up the highest total of the tournament so far, Will Edwards carrying his bat for an undefeated 80 as they compiled 231 for seven.
Edwards faced 120 deliveries and hit seven fours, while he was backed up by more aggressive innings from Omar Afridi with 36 from 41 balls and Lyle Hill, who hit 33 from just 23 balls. Matthew Stokes and James Wilkes-Green picked up two wickets apiece.
The resumption was delayed by rain, and when Guernsey's reply did finally get under way only nine overs' play was possible before the heavens opened. In that time they lost three wickets for 28 runs, with Chris Cash taking two for eight. But with parts of the ground awash it was all in vain, and the match will start again from scratch on Thursday.
Meanwhile, on Salland's second ground the Netherlands, put in by Denmark, collapsed to 58 all out in just 26.2 overs, with Hidde Overdijk (18) the only batsman to reach double figures. The Dutch found themselves on 4 for four after five overs, and never really recovered.
Mads Nyeng took three for 11 for the Danes, and Oliver Weatherall-Thomas and Mads Henriksen took two for 11 and two for 5 repectively.
Denmark had managed to reach 43 for one off 14 overs by the lunch interval, and then had to watch the rain falling for nearly two hours before they could resume their innings. After two more overs there was another, shorter interruption, but there would be no reprieve for the hosts as eventually they went down by six wickets.
Nyeng top-scored for Denmark with 15, while Vivian Kingma took two for 6 from 6 overs for the Netherlands.
James McCollum was again in good form with the bat for Ireland, making 62 and enabling his side to reach 197 for seven against Jersey. He and Peter Ferguson added 56 for the fifth wicket, their second half-century stand of the week, and Peter Eakin weighed in with 22 not out in the final overs.
Mark Hickling was the most successful of the Jersey bowlers with three for 17.
In Utrecht, too, the second innings was delayed by a period of rain, but once they got back out Jersey managed to get to 30 before losing their first wicket. The rest of the batting, however, had no answer to the Irish attack, and the side was dismissed for 55 in 37.5 overs, losing their last nine wickets for only 25 runs.
Rishi Chopra began the procession with three for six in nine overs with five maidens, and James Magee and Ben Hoey collected two wickets each.