Jersey threw the European Division 1 Championship wide open on Wednesday as they cruised to a seven-wicket victory over Ireland A at Les Quennevais, while elsewhere the heavy rain which enveloped Jersey in the afternoon produced two tight finishes in rain-reduced run chases.

Scotland A claimed a second win by beating Denmark by five wickets in a game at FB Fields reduced to 20 overs, while Netherlands A accounted for Italy by three wickets after their innings at Grainville was cut to 30 overs.

On a day when bowlers were almost entirely in the ascendancy, the Jersey new ball pair of Ryan Driver and Chris Jones seized the initiative after Ireland A chose to bat first, quickly reducing their opponents to 39 for four. Then slow left-armer Ben Stevens weighed in with two wickets, and the Irish were in real trouble at 61 for six.

Graham McDonnell and skipper Albert van der Merwe engineered a partial recovery with a stand of 49, but once McDonnell became Stevens' third victim the writing was on the wall, and although Van der Merwe managed to get the total up to 128 his side finished on that score in the 46th over. Stevens finished with three for 15 and Jones with three for 20, with Driver taking two for 19.

Jersey openers Dean Morrison and Ed Farley had reached 40 before rain intervened, and after the break they extended their opening partnership to 63. Driver and Morrison then added another 41, and by the time they were dismissed within four runs of each other, Morrison having made a match-winning, 66-ball 55, Jersey needed only 21 for victory. Peter Gough and Jones knocked off the remaining runs as Jersey completed their win with nearly 20 overs to spare.

Put in by Scotland, Denmark began steadily despite the early loss of Zishan Shah, Freddie Klokker and Michael Pedersen getting them up to 68 before Pedersen followed Klokker to the pavilion. The Scottish attack generally bowled with great discipline, Tyler Buchan and Zeeshan Bashir the most economical with two for 30 and one for 27 respectively from their ten overs.

Hamid Shah and Carsten Pedersen added 65 for the fourth wicket, but it took them just over 20 overs, and with five overs left Denmark were only 133 for four. That they managed to reach 175 for five was due to some controlled aggression from Martin Pedersen and Jacob Larsen, and this total did at least give the bowlers a score to defend.

But then, just 14 deliveries into the Scottish reply, a succession of heavy showers held up play for three and a half hours, and when the match could continue there was time only for the minimum 20 overs. The target was revised to 95, and although the Danish bowlers threw themselves into the task with vigour the odds always favoured the batsmen.

Ryan Flannigan's 23 from 20 balls, including one massive straight six, proved to be the decisive innings, and although they lost five wickets in the process Scotland A got home with seven balls to spare.

Like Ireland A, Italy were in desperate trouble against the new ball, collapsing to 38 for five at one stage against Netherlands A. They were rescued by a fine knock of 56 from Michael Raso, who added 84 for the sixth wicket with Gayashan Munasinghe, who again played a vital innings for his side.

Alauddin weighed in towards the end, and Italy reached a comparatively respectable 153 for seven. Mohsin Ghaznavi was again the leading wicket-taker for the Dutch with three for 32, and there were two wickets apiece for Tom Heggelman (who removed both the Italian openers) and Adeel Raja.

The Dutch batsmen did not find conditions any easier after a long interruption for rain, and at 46 for four, chasing a Duckworth/Lewis target of 114 in 30 overs, they were in danger of a second successive defeat. Skipper Tim Gruijters steered them towards victory with a fighting 28, however, supported by Matthijs Luten, and after they both departed and Netherlands A were again in trouble at 94 for seven, Heggelman and 17-year-old wicketkeeper Werner Erkelens, playing for his country for the first time, knocked off the remaining runs without further loss.

Alauddin with two for 19 and Hemantha Jayasena with two for 27 were the most successful of the Italian bowlers.