Hosts Hellas suffered a surprise defeat at the hands of Sweden on the tournament's second morning in a thrilling encounter which went all the way to the final over with all results still possible, but the morning's other events were overshadowed by a sensational innings from Spanish opener Tariq Ali, who smashed an unbeaten 150 against Estonia.

A see-sawing game at the Ropa No. 1 ground seemed to have swung Hellas's way when seamer Dimitrios Triantaffilidis returned to claim three wickets, leaving the Swedes nine down and still needing two runs for victory as Andreas Koutsoufis started that second over.

Sandeep Sharma defended the first delivery before edging the second over slip, and Mehmood Ahmed could only get a despairing hand to the ball as the batsmen took the second run which gave Sweden the points.

The new Hellas captain, Nik Pothas, made a fine 46-ball, unbeaten 42 as the hosts, put in to bat, battled their way to a fairly modest 114 for four, and it might have been a good deal less but for a late onslaught by Koutsoufis on Sweden's Azam Khalil, in which he hit three sixes in four deliveries to take his own score to 29, made from 18 balls.

Shahid Mustafa and Sadat Sidiqi put on 40 for the first wicket when Sweden replied, and with Sidiqi batting with great composure they reached71 for three. But the Greek spin pair of Mehmood Ahmed and Aslam Mohammad pegged them back picking up two wickets apiece and conceding just 43 runs in seven overs between them.

It was Aslam who finally had Sidiqi brilliantly stumped by Pothas for 41, made from 39 balls with two fours and a six, but when Triantafillidis came back the wickets tumbled, and it was only Sharma's moment of good fortune which denied the Greeks victory and gave Sweden their second successive win.

Spain's 125-run victory over Estonia at Maessonghi was completely dominated by Tariq Ali's magnificent innings of 150. His 66-ball knock included 16 sixes and five fours and much of his 80-minute stay at the crease was spent retrieving balls which had been hit out of the ground or into the windows of the neighbouring hotel.

Faced with a target of 219 for victory, Estonia quickly slumped to 32 for five and the game was over as a contest.

Having chose to bat first, Spain immediately set about the Estonian bowling with Armaghan Khan and Tariq Ali taking the score to the century mark in just nine overs before Armaghan fell for 38, made from 28 balls. Tariq Ali was already blazing away and most of the Estonian bowlers were put to the sword as he punished anything on leg stump or outside the off stump, with midwicket and long on being his favourite hitting areas. Unfortunately for Estonia, their catching was below par and they gave Tariq at least two lives early in his innings.

In the midst of all the boundary hitting, Sivalingam Arunacharam produced the best spell of Estonian bowling, conceding just 31 runs in his four overs and claiming three Spanish wickets.

Estonia immediately struggled against some disciplined Spanish seam bowling. Only Moshiur Rahman and Tim Heath (40 from 34 balls) of the top order were able to get to grips with the pace and bounce.

Sajid Ali took three wickets in a spell which conceded just 17 runs, while Tanveer Iqbal, Tariq Ali and Armaghan Khan all conceded less than 5 runs per over as they captured two wickets apiece as Estonia closed on 93 for nine.

At the Ropa No. 2 ground Israel secured their second win of the tournament with a comfortable victory over Malta. Gabi Schachat top-scored in their innings of 133 for eight, making 28 from 34 balls, while there were two wickets each for Justin Brooke, Nowell Khosla and Mike Caruana.

This always seemed likely to be too much for Malta's batsmen, and although Frankie Spiteri hit a spirited 45-ball 43, including five fours and a six, they could only manage 92 for nine in reply. Steven Shein was the most successful of the Israeli bowlers with three for 21.

In a revised schedule at the Marina ground, aimed at bringing the tournament programme back on track after Finland's inability to play their Monday games, Cyprus posted a comfortable eight-wicket victory over a disappointing Croatian side, who were relegated from Division 1 last season.

Having elected to bat first, Croatia managed to make 100 for five, with Craig Sinovich making 43 (from 48 deliveries) and John Vujnovich 30. Tahir Mohsin took three for 25 for Cyprus, while Niroshan Pelawattha conceded just 7 runs in a three-over spell.

Cyprus were never seriously troubled in their reply, Dineja Agathocleous (30) and Syed Hussain (32) putting on 40 in an opening stand dominated by the latter, and Agathocleous and Tahir Mohsin (30 not out) then adding a further 54 for the second wicket to take their side to the brink of victory, which was eventually achieved with five overs to spare.