The Isle of Man men’s cricket side suffered two defeats against Sweden at the weekend.

The Scandinavians travelled to the island for four T20 internationals at Cronkbourne Cricket Club.

The first game in Tromode on Saturday morning saw Sweden win by 10 wickets with the Isle of Man bowled out for 78 in the 17th over.

Finch Hill’s Christian Webster top scored with 24 from 15 balls, fellow middle-order batsman Luke Ward being bowled out for 17.

Sweden’s two openers Imal Zuwak and Ajay Mundra knocked off the reply in only 11 overs without losing a wicket.

The second game on Saturday afternoon was a much closer contest with the Manx scoring 114 all out with wicketkeeper Carl Hartmann and all-rounder Joe Burrows top scoring with 24 apiece as the side were bowled out in the final over.

It was looking like Sweden were going to win comfortably but seven wickets for 30 runs had the Swedish batters under pressure.

Cronkbourne’s Corbin Liebenberg’s excellent caught and bowled started the wicket taking, then Matt Ansell (2-24), Fraser Clarke (1-31) and an excellent spell from Burrows, which saw him claim three wickets for the loss of only 11 runs, gave the Manx a shot at victory.

The bowlers were well backed up in the field with some fantastic fielding notably an outstanding catch by captain Dollin Jansen.

However, Sweden survived the wobble to reach their target with 33 balls to spare.

The two side’s were due to have a further two T20 games on Sunday but the poor weather meant that neither game went ahead, meaning Sweden won the bilateral series 2-0.

Island umpires Peter Foxton and Paul Barnett both made their international debuts in Saturday’s matches, while, in another milestone moment, the island’s current leading wicket taker Burrows picked up his 25th cap in the weekend’s first game.