Guernsey suffer defeats on opening day in Spain
Tom Nightingale hit 23 in Guernsey's opening loss to Scotland
- Published
Guernsey are bottom of their group at the European Cricket Championships after two heavy defeats to Ireland and Scotland XI's.
The annual 10-over tournament in Spain sees sides from nations around Europe compete in the shortest format of the game.
In their opening match against Scotland the Sarnians were beaten by 30 runs, while the Irish were 72-run winners over the islanders.
The tournament is the final international action of the season for Guernsey, who made the final stages of European qualifying for the T20 World Cup for the first time in the summer.
Scotland hit 147-5 off their 10 overs against Guernsey as Charlie Cassell smashed five sixes in a 14-ball 41 not out while while captain Christopher McBride hit a 12-ball 39 that included five sixes as he opened the batting.
Five Guernsey bowlers each took a wicket with Josh Butler's return of 1-8 off one over the pick of the attack.
In reply, Guernsey struggled to match the run rate and were reduced to 39-4 off three-and-a-half overs.
But Luke Bichard and Tom Nightingale put on a strong fifth-wicket stand of 47 before the former was caught for 35 off 13 balls that included three sixes and three fours.
Opener Nightingale went two balls later for 23 to leave Guernsey on 92-6 off 6.2 overs.
Will Stewart hit 13 not out and Charlie Forshaw 11 not out to guide Guernsey to 117-8 off their 10 overs.
Teenage bowler Charlie Forshaw was the only Guernsey bowler to take more than one wicket in either of Thursday's matches
'A tough day'
Cameron Melly smashed a 31-ball 69 which included five sixes and seven fours as Ireland dominated Guernsey in their second match.
Skipper Jared Wilson scored a 12-ball 31 as Ireland made 146-5 with Forshaw taking 2-23.
In reply Guernsey had a terrible start as they were reduced 5-3 off 10 balls as Ben Fitchet and Tom Nightingale were dismissed without scoring and Josh Butler got 1.
But Ollie Nightingale and Bichard steadied the innings with a 47-run fourth-wicket stand before Nightingale went for 25.
Bichard went on to make 23 not out off 22 balls while Alex Bushell hit 16 as Guernsey ended on 74-5.
"I think it was a tough day, arguably the best two teams in the group though," Guernsey captain Ollie Nightingale told BBC Radio Guernsey.
"So hopefully we'll take what we learnt and get a couple of wins, or at least one win, and see how we get on."
Guernsey face France (10:30 BST) on Friday followed by Portugal later in the day to conclude the group stage with one win likely to guarantee them a place in the play-offs.