The Isle of Man men’s cricket team made a great start to the European Cricket T10 Championship’s Challenger Division in Spain on Monday evening.

A fantastic opening bowling spell from Matt Ansell (2-2) set the tone for the island in the field as they restricted opponents Croatia to 62-8.

Peel and St John’s Kieran Cawte used his yorkers to great effect to finish with excellent figures of 3-3.

The pair were backed up by Akkie Van Den Berg (1-14) on his return to the island side and Chris Langford (1-14).

In reply Eddie Beard 48 (19 balls) made light work of the total scoring runs all round the ground with the pick being the straight six into the camera tower as the Manx reached their target inside five overs.

Ollie Webster 10 not out (4 balls) and Carl Hartmann 5 not out (2 balls) were there at the end to finish it off after Beard was caught out.

Player of the Match was Cawte.

The Manx are back in action again today (Tuesday) at the Cartama Oval with games against Bulgaria (10.45am) and Turkey (5.30pm).

Both matches will be streamed on the European Cricket Network’s YouTube page.