Tuesday saw the second and final round of warm-up games for the T20 World Cup Qualifier in the UAE. There were some eye-catching performances and tight finishes in the seven games as the 14 teams put the finishing touches to their plans for the tournament proper which gets underway on Friday.
Canada, Jersey, Hong Kong, the UAE and Oman will all enter the main group stage in high spirits after recording two wins in two days, while the opposite holds for Nigeria, Kenya Papua New Guinea and the Netherlands who lost today for the second day in a row.
NAMIBIA 97/2 (10.1 overs) beat Nigeria 96/9 (20.0 overs) by 8 wickets
@ ICC Academy 2, Dubai – Scores
In the first game of the day, Namibia won the battle of the African nations easily in the end, but it was a case of what might have been for the Nigerians. The lowest ranked side in the tournament got off to a decent start in their innings, with openers Ajeku (16) and Oyede (35) taking them to 55/0 after 9.2 overs. But from there the wheels fell off somewhat and they crumbled to 96/9 by the end of their 20 overs.
Namibia then chased the target of 97 within 10.1 overs with Davin top scoring on 33.
SCOTLAND 210/8 (20 overs) beat Ireland 208/9 (20.0 overs) by 1 run
@ Tolerance Oval, Abu Dhabi – Scores
Scotland took out the win over their European neighbours Ireland after the most dramatic of finishes in Abu Dhabi. Ireland needed just two runs off the final two balls to chase down a huge target of 211, but managed to lose wickets off both to hand the Scots a one run win. Mark Adair (45 off 24 balls) was the first of those dramatic last over wickets to fall, having taken his side so close to victory. Andy Balbirnie had earlier top-scored with a fine 70 off 48 balls. Hamza Tahir was the pick of the Scottish bowlers with 3/32.
Earlier Scotland had set a daunting total of 210/8, led by the explosive George Munsey’s 86 off 41 balls including 5 sixes, assisted by Oli Hairs quick fire 39 off 18. David Delaney took three wickets for the Irish.
OMAN 164/5 170/6 (19.4 overs) beat Netherlands 169/3 (20.0 overs) by 4 wickets
@ Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi – Scores
More last-over drama saw Oman edge out the Netherlands by four wickets with just two balls to spare. The Dutch, batting first, set a decent total of 169 off the back of Ben Cooper’s 60 off 47 balls and Ryan ten Doeschate’s (36 off 15 balls) late flurry of boundaries.
Oman timed their chase perfectly though with major contributions from Jatinder Singh (64 off 43) and Khurram Ali (21) before Khurram Ali (23) and S Goud (16) saw them home.
CANADA 191/8 (20 overs) beat Kenya 165/8 (20.0 overs) by 26 runs
@ ICC Academy 2, Dubai – Scores
The Canadians never looked in danger in this contest. Batting first, they notched up a challenging total of 191 on the back of significant knocks by Nicholas Kirton (61 off 48 balls) and captain Navneet Dhaliwal (46 off 27 balls). Kenya chipped in with eight wickets (2 each for Otieno and Ngoche) but could not control the North American’s run-rate.
In reply, Kenya made a decent fist of a tough target but were never quite within reach. Opener Obanda was their top scorer with 46 off 34 balls, with Jeremy Gordon the pick of the Canadian bowlers with 3/27.
JERSEY 116/4 (19.1 overs) beat Singapore 112 all out (20.0 overs) by 6 wickets
@ Dubai International Stadium, Dubai – Scores:
A low scoring affair saw Jersey edge past their Asian opponents to record their second win in the warm-ups. The Channel Islands team restricted Singapore to 112 in the first innings on the back of three wickets by Julius Sumrauer and two each for Dominic Blampied and Anthony Hawkins-Jay.
Jersey made slightly heavy weather of their low chase, but got to the target with five balls to spare – Nick Greenwood the pick of the batsmen with 46 off 43 balls.
HONG KONG 160/5 (20 overs) beat Bermuda 136/8 all out (20.0 overs) by 24 runs
@ Dubai International Stadium, Dubai – Scores:
In the first innings, Hong Kong lost skipper Aizaz Khan for 1 in the second over, but consolidated with a top scoring knock from Kinchit Shah (48 off 35) before he became the first of two wickets for Bermuda all-rounder Kamau Leverock. Waqar Barkat the contributed 33 before Haroon Arshad gave the innings aturbo charged finish with 13 runs off the final 3 balls.
Bermuda’s reply had the worst possible start, losing the in-form OKera Bascome for a duck in the first over. 44-year old Janeiro Tucker steadied the ship with 29, but the pink-clad Bermudians were always behind the eight-ball. Contributions for Deunte Darrell (24) and Malachi Jones (23), as well as a late charge by Delray Rawlins (20*) coming in at number 9, pulled them up to 136 by the innings end but they were never in danger of sealing the win. For Hong Kong, Barkat rounded off a good all-round day with 3 wickets.
UAE 193/4 (20 overs) beat PNG 178/7 (20 overs) by 16 runs
@ Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi – Scores
The UAE turned on the after-burners in the second half of their batting display first up to rocket themselves to 193/4. Mohammed Usman started the fireworks by notching a rapid 60 off 33 balls before retiring, but even he was outshone by Waheed Ahmed’s antics at the end – blasting 36 off just 11 balls including 4 sixes and 2 fours.
Given the high target, PNG gave a fairly good account of themselves in the chase with Sese Bau top scoring with 40 off 30 balls, but in the end the target remained just out of reach and the home side ended up winners by 16 runs.
