Tons of fingernails lost in “tug of war” on day 4 in Malaysia

WCL Tournament match climaxes can beat any movie climax any-day. Such is the grandeur of the finishes that even the scriptwriters will forget what they had written at the beginning of the stories. There is drama, tension, excitement, despair, desperation, exhilaration, cry-outs and tons of nail-biting action. Malaysian grounds hosting WCL Division 4 matches got to see them all on day 4 of the competition with four teams still battling for the top 2 spots and all teams still in the hunt for top 4 spots (3rd and 4th remain in WCL Division 4, if WCL tournament still remains, that is).

Duckworth/Lewis had a field day as matches between Uganda/Denmark and Jersey/Malaysia went right down to the wire with Uganda perhaps stealing the win of the year claiming 4 wickets in the final over of Denmark’s chase to defend 5 runs and emerge victorious by 1 run!!

The closest of finishes at #WCL4! Watch the thrilling final over of @CricketUganda v @dcfcricket! 🇺🇬🇩🇰

Denmark needed 5 off 6 balls to seal promotion, but Uganda took 4 wickets to win by 1 run on the final ball of the match! 😲 pic.twitter.com/9mrlk6JTFb

— ICC (@ICC) May 3, 2018

Jersey claimed their crucial win over Malaysia by 10 runs to stay alive in the competition and still in the race for top 2 finish. Malaysia will be utterly dejected to lose out after making a great attempt at their chase and after two consecutive losses in a row, are also in a must-win scenario as Jersey on the final round of group matches on 05th May 2018.

Jersey keep their promotion hopes alive with victory over hosts Malaysia at #WCL4! Corne Bodenstein leads the bowlers with 3/23 after Nat Watkins' 79 set up the 10 run win 🇯🇪

Scorecard ➡️ https://t.co/ec5NkCNYWO pic.twitter.com/6XOZQL5gok

— ICC (@ICC) May 3, 2018

Vanuatu’s head coach Shane Deitz scored his maiden International fifty and remained unbeaten at the end to guide them to their first win of the tournament against Bermuda, and with both the teams out of contention for top 2 finish, will now be looking to win big in their final group matches and hope for a top 4 finish to avoid relegation.

Vanuatu claim their first win of #WCL4, 71* from @Deita551 leading their chase against Bermuda, reaching their target with one over spare to win by 4 wickets.

Scorecard ➡️ https://t.co/y7oRFHM2TA pic.twitter.com/at9P7LnWaT

— ICC (@ICC) May 3, 2018

All the matches ended up being close affairs with rain intervening in Uganda/Denmark and Jersey/Malaysia matches and both the games saw revised targets being applied via D/L method, which brought about all the excitement and tension to the finishes. Although, none of the other games could beat what transpired in the Uganda and Denmark game.

It went all the way to the final ball of the match and the margin of victory couldn't have been finer!

Watch the highlights of today's #WCL4 thriller between @CricketUganda and @dcfcricket! pic.twitter.com/mtZTtE6FxN

— ICC (@ICC) May 3, 2018

With a day of rest for all the teams before the final group phase matches, Uganda have secured the top spot in the points table with Denmark trailing behind them and both will go in as favourites to claim the top 2 spots and qualify for WCL Division 3, but with the nature of these competitions often bringing out the unexpected, nothing could be taken for granted and it will be better if all the drama is simply left to the players to showcase on the field and see who ends up winning the “tug of war” on 05th May 2018.

ICC World Cricket League Division 4 Points Table: