Czech player creates T20I World Record ; Crowned Champions of 2019 Valletta Cup

Czech Republic were crowned Champions of 2019 Valletta Cup, the 4-nation quadrangular tournament hosted by Malta Cricket Association at Marsa Cricket Club from Oct 17th – 20th, 2019. The matches played between Czech Republic and Malta were official T20I status games with ranking points, while the matches involving Hungary and Iceland were played as regular T20 games.

Czech Republic registered 2 T20I wins in the tournament (both coming against Malta), while Hungary registered 4 T20 wins in the event. The Host’s Malta had an unsuccessful outing in the T20I games, without registering a win. For Iceland, it was their first major tournament that included 3 ICC Associate member countries, and although they could not win any games, the experience will be invaluable for their future assignments.

Sabawoon Davizi was adjudged as the player of the tournament, who created the T20I world record by becoming the first player to score a T20I century and picking up 4 wickets in the same game against Malta. Davizi broke the record earlier held by Australia’s Glenn Maxwell (T20I Century/3 wickets vs England at Hobart in 2018).

Sabawoon Davizi 🇨🇿 (Czech Republic – 253 Runs) was the highest run-scorer in the tournament including 2 half-centuries and a century, followed by Derrick Deonarain 🇮🇸 (Iceland) with 132 Runs, Zeeshan Kukihel 🇭🇺 (Hungary) with 125 Runs, Nowell Khosla 🇲🇹 (Malta) with 90 Runs & Honey Gori 🇨🇿 (Czech Republic) with 85 Runs to their names. Kushal Mendon 🇨🇿 (Czech Republic) was the highest wicket-taker with 11 Wickets, followed by Honey Gori 🇨🇿 (Czech Republic) with 7 Wickets, and Sabawoon Davizi 🇨🇿 (Czech Republic), Keenan Botha 🇮🇸 (Iceland), Prabath Weerasooriya 🇮🇸 (Iceland), Harshvardhan Mandhyan 🇭🇺 (Hungary) & Abishek Kheterpal 🇭🇺 (Hungary) claiming 6 Wickets each in the tournament.

Brief Scores

Iceland 107/5 in 20 overs (Lee Nelson 49, Derick Deonarain 27, Keenan Botha 14 n.o, Ravinder Singh 3/9, Haroon Mughal 1/26, Bikram Arora 1/26) lost to Malta 110/3 in 18 overs (Bikram Arora 30 n.o, Jurg Hirschi 28, Sean Byrne 20, Prabhath Weerasooriya 2/20, Sadun Lankathilaka 1/25) by 7 wickets

(T20I) Czech Republic 148/5 in 20 overs (Sabawoon Davizi 91, Hilal Ahmad 18 n.o, Jurg Hirschi 2/13, Sujesh Appu 1/21, Ravinder Singh 1/36) beat Malta 136 all out in 18.2 overs (Haroon Mughal 31, Gopal Chaturvedi 25, Bikram Arora 15, Kushal Mendon 3/19, Sabawoon Davizi 2/8, Paul Taylor 2/28, Honey Gori 1/19) by 12 runs

Iceland 108/8 in 20 overs (Keenan Botha 27, Derick Deonarain 24, Sammy Gill 14, Habib Deldar 2/16, Abishek Kheterpal 1/10, Harshvardhan Mandhyan 1/13, Nishanta Liyanaye 1/22) lost to Hungary 109/5 in 15.4 overs (Zahir Safi Mohammed 56, Zeeshan Kukikhel 22, Prabhath Weerasooriya 4/22, Keenan Botha 1/31) by 5 wickets

Czech Republic 157/7 in 20 overs (Hilal Ahmad 47 n.o, Honey Gori 26, Arun Ashokan 18, Kyle Gilham 17 n.o, Keenan Botha 4/19, Sadun Lankathilaka 1/19) beat Iceland 72/7 in 20 overs (Lakmal Bandara 21, Derick Deonarain 20, Kushal Mendon 3/3, Paul Taylor 1/12, Honey Gori 1/17) by 85 runs

Czech Republic 100/8 in 20 overs (Ed Knowles 30 n.o, Arshad Hyat 21, Abishek Kheterpal 3/13, Zeeshan Kukikhel 2/7, Habib Deldar 1/17) lost to Hungary 101/3 in 17.2 overs (Stan Ahuja 32 n.o, Zeeshan Kukikhel 20, Steffan Gooch 18 n.o, Zahir Safi Mohammed 18, Paul Taylor 2/24, Kushal Mendon 1/27) by 7 wickets

Malta 94 all out in 16.1 overs (Novell Khosla 46, Harshvardhan Mandhyan 4/11, Shehroz Ali 2/11, Zeeshan Kukikhel 1/16) lost to Hungary 98/5 in 17.2 overs (Ali Haider 25 n.o, Maaz Bhaiji 24, Steffan Gooch 19, Jurg Hirschi 2/8, Waseem Abbas 1/17, Bikram Arora 1/18, Suhrid Roy 1/19) by 5 wickets

(SemiFinal#1 – T20I) Czech Republic 204/4 in 20 overs (Sabawoon Davizi 101, Honey Gori 43, Arun Ashokan 34, Sujesh Appu 1/26, Waseem Abbas 1/31) beat Malta 122 all out in 15.5 overs (Gopal Chaturvedi 24, Haroon Mughal 20, Novell Khosla 17, Sabawoon Davizi 4/15, Honey Gori 2/25, Rakshit Shoumyadeep 1/17) by 82 runs

(SemiFinal#2) Iceland 125/8 in 20 overs (Derick Deonarain 61, Abishek Kheterpal 2/24, Harshvardhan Mandhyan 1/14, Habib Deldar 1/24) lost to Hungary 126/1 in 15.3 overs (Zeeshan Kukikhel 55, Stan Ahuja 35 n.o, Steffan Gooch 24 n.o, Keenan Botha 1/8) by 9 wickets

(Final) Hungary 91 all out in 17.2 overs (Zeeshan Kukikhel 28, Marc Ahuja 25, Naveen Ahmed 4/14, Kushal Mendon 3/13, Honey Gori 3/20) lost to Czech Republic 97/2 in 11.4 overs (Sabawoon Davizi 57 n.o, Arun Ashokan 16 n.o, Habib Deldar 1/14, Zeeshan Kukikhel 1/16) by 8 wickets

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