North Down Select beat Italy by 8 wickets
16 July, Comber
Italy 122 (P Di Venuto 47, B Giordeno 27, M Moreland 4-21, T Khan 4-21)
North Down Select 126-2 (A White 43, S Singe 28, I Ahmed 24*)
The Italians are the first of the 11 visiting teams to arrive ahead of the Championships which begin on Friday, and they were the first into action. After an eight wickets defeat, with some of the team batting on grass for the first time, they still have much work to do.
The North Down side were without Shields, Robin Haire, Joe Montgomery, Gavin Rodgers and Billy Dale but they invited Belfast Harlequins professional Ijaz Ahmed, Carrickfergus's overseas star Shane Singe, Cliftonville batsman Johnny Terrett and Brian Dunlop of Muckamore kept wicket.
However, it was the home stars who proved too good for the Italians with Taimur Khan (right) and Marty Moreland each taking four wickets as the visitors were dismissed for 122 with eight balls of their 40 overs unused.
Singe, getting a rare visit to the middle in this damp summer, opened with Andrew White and for 10 overs the Irish international was comfortably outscored, three to 21 at one stage. But the introduction of 18 year old Lorenzo Gatti changed all that, White dispatching him for three fours in his first over and when he swept leg spinner Hemantha Jayasena for another boundary, Andrew brought up the 50 and became top scorer.
He went on to make 43, giving him plenty of encouragement for next Monday's game, also on his home ground, when Ireland take on Italy in the championships proper.
As expected, Peter Di Venuto was the Italian's best batsman, scoring 47 of the first 90 runs after his side has slumped to 22 for four and the weakest team in Group A are expected to rely on their adopted Australian to score most of their runs.