Midhun Lal produced the individual performance of the tournament so far when he took four wickets, including a hat-trick, and scored an undefeated 68 as Switzerland claimed bragging rights over Austria at King William’s College.
Lal’s hat-trick came with the second, third and fourth balls of his first over to reduce Austria to 24 for four and despite a heroic 64 from their captain Ciju Puthuppally, Austria was bowled out for 113.
Lal was back in the middle, at first wicket down, after just two balls of the Swiss innings, and he stayed to see his side home by six wickets with more than 11 overs to spare.
Navin Wijesekera was Lal’s first victim with the ball, and he hit the stumps again with his next delivery to send Muhammadh Ahamed back to the pavilion. And when Armaan Randhawa edged his first ball to wicket keeper Harry Vines, Lal claimed his hat-trick.
Sunny Laddha denied him four in four but the batsman failed to survive his third ball and Austria were suddenly 24 for four. After that, it was the Puthuppally show, the tall, elegant opening batsman trying his best to marshal his team-mates through some tricky waters.
Ali Saleem returned to have the Austria captain caught at third man in the 35th over, after facing 106 balls, and George Gaillet claimed his third wicket in the next over to send the teams for an early lunch.
Switzerland’s innings got off to a nervous start with Luca Illien and captain Trystan George both dismissed in the first two overs but Lal found a willing ally in Saleem and they put on 71 in just 15 overs to effectively settle the match.
Randhawa had better luck with the ball and ended the partnership and although Nikhit Nanjungud was caught just five runs from the winning post, fittingly it was Lal who hit the winning run to complete his day to remember.