ICC/CricketEurope

---

In the opening games in Group B, Belgium and Spain staked an early claim to a possible place in the final with comfortable victories over Gibraltar and Hellas respectively.

Belgium won the toss at JHQ2 and after electing to bat found the conditions testing against the new ball attack of Jos Hatcher and Karan Sadhwani, who quickly reduced them to 16 for three.

Jamie Farmiloe and Edward Still led a Belgian revival with a 66-run fourth-wicket partnership which was probably decisive in the light of the subsequent development of the match – it was, after all, larger than the eventual Gibraltar total.

Still finally fell to Scott Chipolina, but Farmiloe went on the make the top score of 33, off 54 balls, before he was dismissed by the same bowler.

Akshat Saanghvi contributed a spirited 25 in the closing stages, and the Belgian total finished on 139 for eight.

The Gibraltar batsmen found scoring even more difficult against an accurate, persistent Belgian seam attack, and once the openers had gone Shaival Mehta ran through the middle order as Gibraltar collapsed to 59 all out in 24.1 overs, taking four for 9 in a six-over spell.

Spinner Farmiloe also played a key role with the ball with two for 5 in four overs, including the wicket of Philip Dumas, the only member of the Gibraltar team to reach double figures.

Hellas also chose to bat on winning the toss at Bonn, but the outcome was not so happy: they managed to make 121 before being all out off the final ball of their 40 overs, but Spain had little difficulty in knocking off the runs in 21 overs.

Spyridon-Marios Kawadias top-scored for Hellas with 34, sharing a valuable 45-run stand for the third wicket with Liam Benn, who played the sheet-anchor role and faced 75 balls in making 21.

The wickets were shared among the Spanish bowlers, Jake Sunderland, Michael Garside, Andre Sivier and Matthew Winter collecting two each.

Sivier and Joel Brook then put on 47 for the first wicket when Spain replied, and Brook remained to the end with a steady 24 not out while Sivier and skipper Christian Muñoz-Mills played more aggressive innings to push the total towards the target.

Georgios Mazis took two wickets but also came in for some heavy punishment, conceding 40 runs in his six overs.

Spain have a rest day on Sunday, with the victorious Belgians taking on Hellas at JHQ1 and newcomers Switzerland playing Gibraltar in Bonn.