It remains a tight battle at the top of World Cricket Division Six between Guernsey and hosts Malaysia, but Jersey were left frustrated by the weather.
Guernsey held on for a 12-run victory as Kuwait suffered a late collapse at Bayuemas Oval. Jamie Nussbaumer was the matchwinner with 5 for 35 which included a crucial spell in the closing overs. At 183 for 5 - following Irfan Bhatti's solid 66 - Kuwait needed 30 off 29 balls but Nussbaumer struck with consecutive deliveries and also had a hand in a run out. The demise was so swift that Kuwait still had eight balls of their innings unused when they were bowled out. Guernsey's innings had also collapsed at the end after they'd been 177 for 5 in the 42nd over. Jeremy Frith had provided the anchor with 82 off 95 balls, but in the final outcome it was the 23 extras conceded by Kuwait (including 12 wides and three no-balls) which proved the difference.
"I bowled with intent because we knew the guys top of the order batted well and we had to restrict them when it came to scoring runs," Nussbuamer said. "I think things worked particularly well for me today when it came down to the Powerplays and I made sure I bowled my yorkers and made it hard for them and it paid off.
"In regards to chasing down our total, they batted sensibly taking their time and I think they had 115 up off 20 overs or so and with eight or nine wickets in hand they thought they had the game in easy reach. They were slow to start but credit has to be given to them that they were in control until we managed to start taking wickets regularly."
Hosts Malaysia cruised to an eight-wicket victory against Fiji at Kinrara Academy Oval to remain top of the table on net run-rate, ahead of Guernsey. Captain Suhan Alagaratnam (54 not out) and Shafiq Sharif (55 not out) guided the run chase home with more than 14 overs to spare after Fiji had been bowled out for 129. Eszrafiq Aziz had done most of the damage with 5 for 36 as Fiji lost wickets at regular intervals and only two batsmen passed 20.
"I think today we played a really good all-round game," Alagaratnam said. "We were on the mark with our bowling and fielding in the first innings and credit should really go to Eszrafiq again who performed really well for us. In the batting department the top order contributed and it feels good to have won by a big margin to improve our run-rate even further in the points table. It's by no means a done deal for us, we need to keep winning every game to secure ourselves promotion."
Jersey were in a promising position against Nigeria when their match was washed out after 44 overs at the Selangor Turf Club. Jersey had reached 218 for 6 after a series of solid top-order contributions. Ben Stevens top-scored with 48 before he was run out while Dean Morrison had opened the innings with a positive 50-ball 46. Nigeria chipped away with Endurance Ofem taking 2 for 30 in his 10 overs, but when the rain arrived Samuel de la Haye had placed himself to push the total towards 250. The match may be replayed on September 22 depending on the completion of Wednesday's round of fixtures.