Singapore brushed aside Norway with contemptuous ease at the Kallang Ground, as Buddika Mendis continued his sublime form by crunching 90 from 94 in an emphatic eight-wicket win. In the process, Singapore were promoted to Division 5 of the World Cricket League. Captain Zaheer Ashiq led from the front for Norway with 92 from just 71 deliveries, but apart from a triplet of twenties, there was very little else as Norway were dismissed for 229. The wickets were shared around by Pramodh Raja (2 for 34), Riaz Hussien (2 for 14) and Monish Arora who picked up 2 for 21. Aamer Waheed broke through early in Singapore's chase, dismissing Mulewa Dharmichand, but Mendis and Narender Reddy (82* from 98) smashed 143 for the second wicket to lay a solid platform in hauling down 230, winning by eight wickets with more than 12 overs to spare.
"We've been practising really hard ahead of this tournament," Mendis said, "and all we wanted to do was to secure promotion to the next league, which is what we've done with this win. We knew after Bahrain had lost to Botswana, we would be guaranteed a spot in Division 5 no matter we finish first or second. We obviously want to finish on top of the table but the most important thing for us is that we're going to the next division no matter what."
James Moses' four wickets helped Botswana to their maiden win in the tournament, beating Bahrain by 69 runs at The Padang. Faisal Rana grafted 52 from 60 in Botswana's 256 for 9 while Abdul Patel made 49, and there were useful contributions throughout; Taroesh Trivedi smacked a momentum-stealing 38 from 20 balls including two fours and three sixes. Bahrain's innings never really got going, with Moses helping to reduce them to 109 for 5, and not even Tahir Dar's bristling 33 from 25 balls could lift them to their target of 247.
"After the tongue-lashing we had from our captain after the last defeat, we all knew we had to come hard in today's match. It, therefore, feels great to win our first match of the tournament," Moses said. "But we have to stayed focused as tomorrow is a big match against Malaysia and we need to carry the same momentum and winning mentality to the field. It felt good to be awarded the second Man-of-the-Match award and it's even sweeter because we won our match."
Malaysia moved into second position behind Singapore with Suhan Alagaratnam hitting an unbeaten 80 at the Indian Association Ground in their four-wicket win over Guernsey, the only side not to have won a match thus far. Jeremy Frith continued his good form with 79, but the next highest score from a Guernsey batsman was from the captain, Stuart Le Prevost, who made 23. Guernsey fared better in the field defending a target of 213, reducing them to 160 for 6, but Alagaratnam turned it on and received excellent support, firstly from Ariffin Ramly's 52, and an unbeaten run-a-ball 21 from Manrick Singh.
"Today was a really tough innings," Alagaratnam said. "I needed a runner once I got past 50 as I was struggling somewhat with the heat and also with an injury. But that didn't stop us winning today and I hope it will not stop us winning tomorrow against Botswana. I'm confident my side can do well and we'll take the same plans and preparations into tomorrow's game at Kalang."
