Israel took a big step towards the tournament semi-finals on Wednesday morning when they beat one of their main rivals, Portugal, in a match reduced to 14 overs a side, while at the other end of the Group A table Estonia registered their first win at the expense of Luxembourg.

In Group B, there was a third win for the Isle of Man and Sweden, at the expense of Croatia and Finland respectively, with Sweden retaining their unbeaten record and inflicting a first defeat upon the Finns.

The teams arrived at the Messonghi ground to find that a soaked outfield would make it impossible for play to begin on time, and when the match was finally able to get under way six overs had been sliced off each innings.

Portugal did well to contain the Israeli batsmen early on, but a 29-ball innings of 40 by Eshkol Solomon enabled Israel to seize the initiative, and then Yaniv Razporker cracked 25 from 10 deliveries to get his side up to 118 for five.

Tariq Aziz and Bilal Safdar put on 68 for the second wicket for Portugal and their side was strongly placed at 78 for one, but once Bilal was out for 19, the first of three victims for Josh Evans, the wickets started to tumble – three of them in the space of four deliveries. The Israelis held onto their catches, and excellent fielding enabled them to increase the pressure on the Portuguese batsmen, who steadily fell behind the required rate.

Tariq Aziz's 30-ball 45 was the only really substantial innings for Portugal, and with Kapila Perere and Herschel Gutman bowling economical overs at the death, the chase ended 17 runs short.

At the Marina Estonia came back well from Tuesday's crushing defeat at the hands of Spain, posting a substantial total of 167 for five against Luxembourg, opener Nand Lal Riar making a run-a-ball 30, Tim Filer contributing 49 from 31 deliveries, and captain Tim Heath belting an unbeaten 52 from 33 balls. Taral Desai was the most successful of the Luxembourgeois bowlers with three for 20.

Luxembourg's reply got off to a terrible start when Murali Obili removed Tim Barker and Desai in the first over, and despite a fighting 37 from Richard Neale and lesser contributions from skipper Tony Whiteman (21) and Nishith Gandhi (13) they could only manage 108 for nine.

Obili finished with three for 16, while Heath ran through the middle order for figures of three for 12.

In the Group B battle of the Baltic nations at Ropa Valley No. 2, Sweden cruised to a comfortable 6-wicket victory after dismissing Finland for 136 in the final over of their innings.

Ekhwelpak Kuchey was the hero of the Finnish effort, his 73 (out of 98 scored while he was at the crease) coming from 46 deliveries and including five fours and six sixes. Swedish new-ball bowler Khalid Ahmad did most of the damage with five for 21, while Azam Khalil claimed three for 28.

Tariq Sarfraz then gave Finland hope by claiming two wickets by the time 26 runs were on the board for Sweden, but Shahid Mustafa and Azam Khalil effectively settled the issue with a third-wicket stand of 94 before Sarfraz returned to have Azam caught behind by Tatu Vehvilainen for a 27-ball 38.

Shahid remained to the end, however, finishing on 66 not out, made from 57 deliveries with two fours and seven sixes, as Sweden reached their target with two and a half overs to spare.

On the next-door No. 1 ground Croatia found scoring difficult against the Isle of Man, only two batsmen reaching double figures as they battled their way to 86 for seven. Opener Michael Grzinić was again amongst the runs with a 46-ball 34 before he was run out by Alex Stokoe, while elder brother Jeffrey contributed an unbeaten 21 in the closing stages. Arne van den Berg was the leading wicket-taker for the Manxmen with three for 13.

Michael Grzinić also picked up two early wickets when the Isle of Man replied, but a fine innings from Philip Littlejohns, who made 43 from 44 balls, saw his side home with six wickets and three overs in hand.