They say lightning doesn't strike twice but it certainly did at Messonghi on Tuesday afternoon as Spain's Tariq Ali followed up his morning 150 not out against Estonia with another innings of huge hitting; this time he made 148 against Portugal and managed to surpass his morning tally of 16 sixes with a further 18 maximums - and it was done in even fewer balls faced – 55 as against 66 in his morning innings.

Spain went on to win the game by 75 runs but the game also featured another fabulous batting display - by Portugal's 18-year-old Number six Bilal Safdar, who struck 82 from 37 balls faced. His array of attacking strokes contained nine sixes (three of which came off successive deliveries).

Both teams came into this Iberian derby with a pair of victories under their belts. Batting first after winning the toss Spain made 248 for six in their 20 overs, with Christian Munoz-Mills (30) and Armaghan Khan (26) both playing useful roles in support of Tariq Ali. Portugal began poorly and any slim chance of victory had disappeared by the time their fourth wicket fell with just 42 runs on the board.

That did not deter Safdar and Rizwan Khaliq (40), however, as they combined to share a brilliant partnership of 117 before both fell in successive deliveries at the start of the 18th over. The most successful bowler for Spain was Talat Ali with three for 24 in four overs as Portugal finished on 173 for seven wickets.

For hosts Hellas, by contrast, a day which had started disappointingly with a last-over defeat by Sweden went from bad to worse as they were comprehensively beaten by the Isle of Man at Ropa Valley No. 2.

The Manx batsmen were given a great start by openers Max Stokoe and Gareth Morris, who put on 111 before Spyridon Goustis secured the initial breakthrough, bowling Morris for a superb 44-ball 66 which included two fours and six sixes.

Stokoe fell soon afterwards, dismissed by the same bowler for 40, but Philip Littlejohns (25 not out from 13 deliveries) and Oliver Webster (37 from 16, with five fours and two sixes) built on that platform, and saw their side through to a challenging total of 185 for three.

Hellas needed a good start in their turn, but Max Stokoe dismissed Alex Souvlakis off the first ball he received, and the Greek batsmen never really recovered. Mehmood Ahmed top-scored with a run-a-ball 20, but when Arne van den Berg had Nik Pothas brilliantly caught at deep midwicket by Daniel Hawke, the game was effectively over.

Van den Berg took three for 18 as Hellas were eventually dismissed for 83, giving the Isle of Man a thumping 102-run victory.

On the next-door No. 1 ground, Malta staged a remarkable comeback to beat Luxembourg by seven wickets. Opener Tim Barker, still a week short of his 17th birthday, got Luxembourg off to a terrific start with a 45-ball knock of 55, and he was well supported by skipper Tony Whiteman's 25-ball 35.

Justin Brooke, George Agius and Derek Ali claimed two wickets apiece, but Luxembourg put up their most convincing batting display so far with a challenging 151 for eight.

Nowell Khosla gave Malta a steady start in reply, making 42 from 41 deliveries, but although they had wickets in hand Malta's required rate rose steadily thanks to steady bowling from Chris Evans and Nishith Gandhi, and it reached ten an over at one stage.

Luxembourg seemed to be heading for victory, but then Maltese captain Andrew Naudi produced an astonishing innings, smashing an undefeated 66 from just 27 deliveries, with five fours and five sixes, and with Ronnie Sacco contributing 15 not out from an amazing four balls, this pair added a match-winning 65 to see their side home with 13 balls to spare.

On a day of remarkable hitting, Finland came out of their triangular round-robin with two wins in relatively low-scoring games.

In the first, they succeeded in defending a total of 128 for nine against Cyprus, wicketkeeper-opener Michael Shaw top-scoring with 39 and Dineja Agathocleous taking four wickets at a cost of 23 runs.

Bizarrely, Cyprus lost only two wickets in their reply and still fell eight runs short of their target, despite a second-wicket stand of 96 between Syed Hussain (39) and Tahir Mohsin (65 not out from 55 deliveries, with four fours and four sixes).

The Finnish bowlers did even better in their second game, restricting Croatia to 95 for six. Craig Sinovich was the top scorer with a steady 36, sharing a third-wicket stand of 55 with Michael Grzinić (32).

Bilal Khan, who had bowled four overs for 15 runs against Cyprus, was again extremely economical with two for 21, but he was outdone by captain Amrik Bhatia, who took three for 13 in his four overs.

Zahidullah Kamal led the Finnish reply with an unbeaten, 54-ball innings of 55, and his side cruised to victory by seven wickets in 17.3 overs.