ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier

[Sir john]

Bukhari the star as the Netherlands ease past Canada

The Netherlands opened their Group A campaign with a solid performance at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday, posting a convincing 42-run victory over Canada. Peter Borren elected to bat on winning the toss, and the initial tempo of the innings was brisk without ever threatening to overwhelm a steady Canadian attack. Michael Swart fell in the second over, and Stephan Myburgh hit three boundaries before holing out to mid-on off the bowling of Rizwan Cheema. This brought Tom Cooper and Alexei Kervezee together, and they added 33 for the third wicket, keeping the scoreboard moving, until Cooper tried to hit out at Harvir Singh Baidwan and was bowled for 29, made from 25 deliveries. Kervezee continued, despite the loss of Wesley Barresi and Borren, the latter run-out for 11 in an unfortunate misunderstanding soon after surviving a tricky moment when Junaid Siddiqui claimed a low catch at point only to be denied by the umpires, and he reached 29, from 31 deliveries, before becoming Baidwan’s third victim of the innings. At this stage the Dutch were 103 for six, and with only 20 balls left they were in urgent need of some enterprise. This came once again from the bat of Mudassar Bukhari, who belted 28 from just 15 deliveries as he got his side up to a reasonably challenging 135 for six by the close. It was, probably, just a little short of a par score, and the Canadians could take some satisfaction from that fact, which owed a good deal to the bowling of spinners Zahid Hussain and Junaid Siddiqui, the former conceding just 20 runs from his four overs, and to Baidwan’s three for 29. Hiral Patel and Ravindu Gunasekera began their chase confidently enough, but with the final ball of his second over, the fourth of the innings, Timm van der Gugten struck for the Dutch by bowling Gunasekera. Van der Gugten was now replaced by Bukhari, who proceeded to remove Raza-ur-Rehman with his first delivery and skipper Rizwan Cheema with his third. And when, in the following over, Patel was run out by a smart piece of work from Stephan Myburgh, the Canadian innings was rocking on 26 for five. Jimmy Hansra and Baidwan set about trying to turn things around, and their sixth-wicket partnership of 48 from 31 deliveries was the most productive of the match. The Dutch did not panic, however, and the required rate was still almost nine an over when Pieter Seelaar bowled Baidwan for a 14-ball 21. Hansra fell to Ashan Malik Jamil in the following over, and the writing was on the wall at 82 for seven. Seelaar picked up two more wickets to finish with three for 16 and then Jamil finished the innings as Henry Osinde holed out to Cooper at long on with the total on 93. It had been a decent start with both bat and ball, although there was clearly room for improvement in both departments, as coach Peter Drinnen and skipper Peter Borren were ready to acknowledge afterwards. But it was a valuable workout for Wednesday’s encounter with Afghanistan, which is likely to be a much tougher test for the Orange Lions. Afghanistan looked sharp in cruising to victory over Papua New Guinea on Tuesday, and these two sides may well be the two to watch in Group A as the tournament unfolds.

[Sir john]

Namibia shock Ireland

In the feature match of the day Namibia began its campaign to qualify for the ICC World Twenty20 Sri Lanka 2012 in style when it defeated the number-two ranked side, Ireland, by four runs in its Group B fixture at the ICC Global Cricket Academy Oval 2, Dubai Sports City. A good all-round performance by Louis Van Der Westhuizen helped Namibia in causing its first upset of the tournament. Van Der Westhuizen first scored 34 runs to help Namibia reach 160-8 and then claimed two for 37 to restrict Ireland to 156-9 which not only earned a famous victory for his side but also meant he walked away with the man of the match award. Van der Westhuizen said: "It went really well. I saw the ball clearly and the team had a really good vibe. It always helps when the team spirits are up and playing Ireland is always a really big game. It is good to play the biggest team on the opening day and it is great to get a win against them. "Namibia can be quite an unpredictable team, but when it comes off then we can beat anybody. The biggest challenge for us will be to be consistent throughout the event and keep up our performance levels." Apart from Van Der Westhuizen, Raymond Van Schoor (31), Sarel Burger (21) and Craig Williams (19) were the other main run-getters for Namibia while Paul Stirling and George Dockrell equally shared six wickets between them, conceding 20 and 26 runs, respectively. In their target chase, Ireland slumped to 65-5 in the 11th over before Gary Wilson (49) and John Mooney (38) put their side back on track by adding 71 runs for the sixth wicket off 44 balls. In the last over, Ireland needed 18 runs and ended up four runs short after managing 13 runs, including two fours. Ireland coach Phil Simmons said: "I don't think we underestimated Namibia today, we don't underestimate any team we face. We didn't start well in the game and allowed Namibia to score too many runs in the first six overs which proved to be a deciding factor and therefore we struggled. "Everything needs to improve from tomorrow as we are not where we need to be in every aspect of our game for this event and that improvement has to start now." Simmons struggled to find a pleasing aspect to Ireland's performance today but admitted: "I think the only pleasing part of the day for us was the partnership between John Mooney and Gary Wilson which got us back into the game but we didn't take the chances we needed to in order to finish things off."

[Sir john]

Scotland overcomes spirited Kenya

Scotland's top order made a blistering start to the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier UAE 2012 as the European side defeated Kenya by 14 runs in a Group A match at the ICC GCA, Over 1, Dubai Sports City on Tuesday. In one of the two matches of the day which carried Twenty20 International (T20I) status, Scotland batted first and posted an imposing 178 for seven. In turn, Kenya gave Scotland a run for its money before running out of steam to be bowled out for 164 on the final delivery of the match. The impressive aspect of the match was the performance of Scotland's top order which fired very early in the tournament to send a warning to the other sides. Openers Calum Macleod (55) and Richard Berrington (28) provided Scotland a rapid start of 41 runs in 19 delivers before Macleod was joined by Kyle Coetzer (46) as the two batsmen added 83 runs in nearly 10 overs. Preston Mommsen then gave nice finishing touches to the Scotland's innings when he hit two fours in a 15-ball 22 as the fifth seed side collected 31 runs in the last three overs. Berrington seemed to be in a hurry as he slapped four fours in a 16-ball knock while Coetzer smashed six fours and a six in a 36-ball knock. Macleod was equally in a punishing mood, slapping seven fours in a 35-ball innings but more importantly he held his end together till the 14th over. In turn, Kenya made a spirited fight but still fell short of the target. Collins Obuya hit four fours and a six in a 36-ball 50 while Alex Obanda struck six fours and a six in his highly entertaining 17-ball 35.

[Sir john]

Easy wins for Afghanistan, Denmark, Italy and Nepal; close for Uganda and Scotland

Whilst Ireland were surprised by Namibia on the first day of the World Twenty20 Qualifier in the UAE, other matches went basically as expected, though Scotland's win against Kenya and Uganda's win over the USA were closer than many would have predicted. Two of the matches in the morning saw the two former full member internationals, Geraint Jones and Michael Di Venuto have contrasting fortunes for Papua New Guinea and Italy against Afghanistan and Oman respectively. Defending champions Afghanistan won the toss and elected to field first against Papua New Guinea. Their opening bowlers restricted the scoring rate of the PNG batsmen. Geraint Jones didn't have a good start to his PNG career and was out for a duck. As he ended his England career with a pair against Australia, this leaves him with three consecutive ducks in international cricket. The lower middle PNG order managed to stay in, but their total of 112-6 from 20 overs was unlikely to post much of a challenge to the experienced Afghans, playing on what is the closest they get to home turf. In their reply, Afghanistan lost Noor Ali Zadran in the first over when he injured himself getting back into his ground. They lost three wickets for five runs in 11 balls early in their innings, but a fine unbeaten innings of 52 from Mohammed Nabi - his first List A Twenty20 fifty - helped them secure a comfortable six wicket win with an over to spare. At the main Global Cricket Academy ground, Oman's decision to bat first against Italy quickly proved to be a bad decision when their batsmen formed something of a procession back to the dressing room. Middlesex player Gareth Berg picked up two wickets on debut, but it was off-spinner Carl Sandri who did the bulk of the damage, taking four wickets for just nine runs. Extras, with 19, was the top scorer for Oman, with Sultan Ahmed the only batsmen to make double figures. He managed to stop Oman being bowled out, holding on for a 23 run last wicket partnership with skipper Hemal Mehta as Oman made 89-9 from their 20 overs. Whilst Italy lost Andy Northcote for a second ball duck, they had no problem reaching their target. Debutant Michael Di Venuto showed no signs of rustiness after two and a half years away from Twenty20 cricket as he top scored with 42, sharing an unbroken 84 partnership for the second wicket with Peter Petricola as Italy won by nine wickets. The third Group B match of the morning saw Uganda take on the USA at Sharjah. The USA's total of 123-8 was led mostly by captain Sushi Nadkarni's innings of 38 from 33 balls. Roger Mukasa was the pick of Uganda's bowlers with 2-14. Jonathan Sebanja also took two wickets, but went for 32 runs from his three overs. Uganda's reply initially wasn't looking too good as they had scored just 53-5 when Arthur Kyobe was out in the 12th over. But a quickfire 30 off 19 balls from Frank Nsubuga saw Uganda put on 47 for the sixth wicket in 5 overs, and it was easy going from there as Uganda won by four wickets with four balls to spare. Winners of the European qualifier Denmark had a reasonably easy win over Bermuda in the afternoon at Sharjah. Despite a 74 run second wicket partnership between Dion Stovell and David Hemp, which ended when Hemp was run out for 36, Bermuda were only able to score 116-7 from their 20 overs, Stovell the only batsmen other than Hemp to reach double figures with 56. Denmark's reply was built around a partnership of 60 for the third wicket between Freddie Klokker and Rizwan Mahmood, which ended when Klokker was run out for 50 from 41 balls. Mahmood led the team home, finishing on an unbeaten 47 as Denmark won by seven wickets with five balls to spare. Two Asian sides met in the second match at the secondary global cricket academy ground in Dubai as Nepal took on Hong Kong. Nepal captain Paras Khadka led the way for his team with 68 from 62 balls to take his team to 130-6, with Munir Dar the pick of the Hong Kong bowlers with 3-15. Hong Kong lost wickets regularly throughout their innings, with only Nizakat Khan getting a start with 32. They did manage to bat out their overs, but were never really in the hunt as they scored 102-9, losing by 28 runs. Chandra Sawad was the pick of the Nepal bowlers with 4-24. On the main global cricket academy ground in the afternoon was one of two full Twenty20 Internationals on this opening day as Kenya took on Scotland. Batting first after Gordon Drummond won the toss, Scotland opening pair Richie Berrington and Calum MacLeod put on 41 for the opening wicket before Berrington was out for 28. Jan Stander followed four balls later, but MacLeod then shared in an 83 run partnership for the third wicket with Kyle Coetzer which ended when MacLeod was out for 55 from just 35 balls in the 14th over. Coetzer went on to score 46, and Scotland reached a formidable 178-7 from their 20 overs. Kenya got a lot closer than many would have expected, and were scoring well ahead of the rate in the first half of the innings. Collins Obuya top scored with 50, but Scotland had already taken control of the innings at that point. Kenya lost their final wicket from the last ball of the match and had made 164, losing by 14 runs. Gordon Drummond was the pick of the Scottish bowlers with 3-20. It wasn't all bad news for Kenya though, as today's match meant that they have now played enough full Twenty20 Internationals to gain a ranking on the ICC ranking table, entering at twelfth and last place.

[AfghanCricFan]

A sad day for SJ

[Sid]

Saar Jaan you are amazing,thnks for all the updates

[Cricket Tragic]

The World T20 is *****y enough and there is a qualifier for it? :facepalm: Reading that report, it looks like Italy has picked up some lessons from Ingerland. :giggle:

[Sir john]

A sad day for SJ

its mix day mate bermuda nd kenya lose:((:(( but namibia nd uganda wins.:--D

[Raghav_12]

The World T20 is *****y enough and there is a qualifier for it? :facepalm:Reading that report' date= it looks like Italy has picked up some lessons from Ingerland. :giggle: Not only this, There are qualifiers for qualifiers as well. See Sir J's post. In btw, Sir J, are you on ICC's payroll or something?

[Sir john]

Am only a fan.

[vvvslaxman]

Sir john .. you might as well posted all your posts in a word document..in your local pc. lol

[phaedrus]

Sir john .. you might as well posted all your posts in a word document..in your local pc. lol

:giggle:

[jairamesh]

seems like a few upsets have happened already. I tip Nepal as the dark horses. Now this is proper global tournament, 16 teams with evenly balanced competition.

[Sir john]

Bermuda v Hong Kong (10:00 local | 06:00 GMT) Canada v P.N.G. (10:00 local | 06:00 GMT) Ireland v Kenya (10:00 local | 06:00 GMT) Italy v U.S.A. (10:00 local | 06:00 GMT) Afghanistan v Netherlands (14:00 local | 10:00 GMT) Denmark v Nepal (14:00 local | 10:00 GMT) Namibia v Scotland (14:00 local | 10:00 GMT) Oman v Uganda (14:00 local | 10:00 GMT)

today matches.

[AfghanCricFan]

Ireland and Kenya is interesting

[Sir john]

Ireland and Kenya is interesting

going to duty will be back @ 5:45 GMT. :((:((:((:(( hope kenya nd bermuda wins today.

[Sehwag1830]

kenya 13/3 in 3 :hysterical::hysterical: 71 all out. :hysterical::hysterical:

[AfghanCricFan]

good thing that you are at work SJ

[ganeshran]

going to duty will be back @ 5:45 GMT. :((:((:((:(( hope kenya nd bermuda wins today.

:hysterical::hysterical::hysterical:

[Sir john]

:sad: kenya nd bermuda lose now all hope on namibia nd uganda.