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ISLE of Man set themselves up for their showdown with hosts Spain on Saturday with a comfortable six wickets win over Malta at La Manga.
Three wickets for Greg Hawke and two each for Max Stokoe and Ollie Webster helped bowled out Malta for 188 with two balls to spare, but when Isle of Man reached 65 for two at halfway, if anything Malta were favourites.
Webster changed all that with a superb 72 from 47 balls with 10 boundaries, half of them sixes,. When he was bowled by John Callus, the Islanders’ target was down to 33 from 13 overs and patient opener Jonathan Norrington saw them home. In all, he faced 114 balls and hit only four of them to the boundary while finishing 46 not out after 43 overs.
Malta’s innings was dominated by Frankie Spiteri who scored 65 - the next highest score was captain Andrew Naudi’s 31. They put on 74 for the fourth wicket in 18 overs and Spiteri also added .42 for the seventh with Christopher Naudi, who hit 17 off 21 balls.
Spiteri was out in the last over for 65 but it was destined to be upstaged by Webster who received the man of the match prize. More importantly to him on the day, however, was the chance for his team to be still crowned champions at Saturday night’s dinner.