Barry Chambers

Portugal made first use of the wicket in their game with France played at Lisburn. They found the conditions difficult and struggled to make a meaningful total. Camlesh Ramchande top scored with 34 not out as he and Dinesh Maughi brought some respectability to the total with a 39 run partnership for the 10th wicket to take the score to 167. Earlier Nadeem Butt (right) with 24, Intesab Medhi 22, and Torben Rankine 17 had reached double figures. Buddhi Attanayake and Peter Alexander picked up two wickets apiece for the French.

France were never really in difficulty as they built a succession of partnerships. Gareth Edwards and Arun Ayyavooraju put on 44 for the 1st wicket and when they went for 26 and 14, it was left to the experienced pair of Javed Ijaz and Shabbir Hussain who added 63 for the 4th wicket to see them to the brink of victory. Hussain was eventually dismissed for 32 but Ijaz with 44 not out and Guy Brumant with 17 not out led France to a six wicket win with nearly 8 overs to spare. Nadeem Butt with 3 for 40 continued his fine start to the tournament.