DAY ONE SLOVENIA
On a damp day, heavy clouds threatening overhead, Cyprus took the field on its first day of international cricket.
The road that had brought us here had been uphill and full of potholes. Nevertheless the Cyprus team had arrived in Belgium with its squad intact, fielding its strongest players.
Cyprus captain Mike Kyriacou had chosen to field, hoping to take advantage of the low cloud and damp conditions that should help the ball to swing away and into the batsman.
Cyprus opponents Slovenia started very cautiously, taking no risks and consequently scoring very few runs. By the fifteenth over, one third of the way through their innings they had managed only 16 runs and lost two wickets. Chris Markides bowled a fast, controlled 7 over spell conceding only 4 runs.
Mike replaced pace with slower swing bowling but still could not tempt Slovenia out of their shell. Hoping to buy a wicket with some part time bowlers led to a couple of high scoring overs where the batsmen took advantage of some short-pitched deliveries to rock back and cut and pull the ball to the boundary.
Sampath Tsangerides, Singha Arthanayake and off spinner Vishnu Naik tightened up the bowling again and Slovenia retreated back into their slow deliberate run rate, rarely scoring more than than 2 an over.
After 40 overs they had a very modest total of 118. Opening bat Mark Oman had batted like a Trojan throughout almost the entire innings for 34, scoring a single boundary. T Furnesss had been the more aggressive, capitalising on short balls to top score on 38 with five boundaries.
When their time came to bat Cyprus came to understand why it had been so difficult to score runs. In damp Belgium the pitch plays tricks on the batsmen, tempting them into playing at a ball that is no longer there to be played. The ball moves in the air and cuts in and away off the pitch. In the Cyprus sun there is little movement off the pitch. opening bat Sampath Tsangarides hit a magnificent off drive for 4 on his second delivery and was out caught behind, attempting the same shot, on his third.
One batman after another fell into the same trap, giving up gentle catches off mistimed attempts to find the boundary. The Slovenian captain saw Cyprus dilemma and encourage even more mistakes from the batsman by bowling slow right arm spinner L.Kuranti-Lake. He threw up the ball drawing one false shot after another.
Only one person seemed able to adapt his technique to the conditions. Coming in no 3 Amit Singh worked at scoring singles rather than taking a chance on boundaries. At the other end wickets were tumbling while Amit beavered away. A partnership with captain Mike Kyriacou brought the score to 72 when Mike was caught off spinner Karanyi-Lake on 22. Their partnership had been worth 52 runs, and up to the loss of Mikes wicket Cyprus had been taking the game away from Slovenia. Now, with Mike gone, Amit watched once again as a procession of batsman lost their wickets, taking with them Cyprus hopes of winning the game.
With a total of 75 runs and 7 Cyprus wickets down. Slovenia were already celebrating their victory.
Amit needed someone to support him at the other end, while he continued to work away. Vishnu Naik helped for a while, out caught once again off Karanti-Lake for 1, but the score had crept on to 93. In no 9 bat, Sunil Gururaj, Amit finally found he partner he needed. Together they slowly got on top off the bowling. It was now Slovenia who felt the game slipping away. As their bowling got more desperate, as they tried to get the last wickets, they gave away more runs. Inexorably Cyprus drew closer to finally overtake the Slovenia total.
This has been a wonderful win for Cyprus, a nightmare for supporters of both teams who were tormented by every violent turn in a twister of a game, and a magnificent innings for Amit Singh, whose innings of 42 not out won the match for Cyprus.
Match statistics
Cyprus win by 2 wickets
Slovenia battting
RM Crawford lbw b M.Kyriacou 1
MH Oman run out 34
JE Reja LBW B Arthanayake
TS Furness c&b Singh
GJ Davies not out 7
KW Karunatilake not out 7
Extras 25
Total 118-5
Fall of wickets
1-7,2-16,3-93,4-98, 5-104
Cyprus bowling
M.Kyriacou 7-0-17-2
C.Markides 6-2-4-0
S.Athanayake 8-1-16-1
S.Gururaj 4-0-11-0
C.Vassiliades 1-0-13-0
D.Agathacleous 2-0-11-0
S.Tsangarides 6-0-14-0
V.Naik 5-0-14-0
A.Singh 1-0-12-1
Cyprus batting
S.Tsangarides c Davies b Eve 4
Da Agathocleous c Crawford b Blaznik 2
A. Singh not out 42
S.Arthanayake lbw b Blaznik 4
M.Kyriacou c Crawford b Kuranatilake 22
C. Vassiliades b Oman 2
Di Agathocleous c Kuranatilake b Oman 0
V. Khandelwal c Mayland b Kuranatilake 0
V.Naik c Crawford b Kurantatilake 1
S.Gururaj not out 10
Extras 32
Total 119-8
Fall of wickets
1-5,2-12,3-20,4-72,6-75,7-75,8-93
Slovenia bowling
B Eve 7-1-24-1
U Blaznik 8-2-20-2
S Mayland 6-0-20-0
L. Karunatilake 8-1-25-3
M.Oman 8-0-27-2
