Published: Nov 27, 2017, 09:30 PM (IST)
Edited: Nov 27, 2017, 09:30 PM (IST)
The battle for the four-day ICC Intercontinental Cup title is into its final round, with only Afghanistan and Ireland still in contention of lifting the trophy from the eight teams in the competition. Current table-topper Afghanistan (101 points) face the United Arab Emirates (47 points) at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi, knowing a win will guarantee them the title. Second-placed Ireland (89 points) face Scotland (46 points) at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium looking to secure maximum points and hoping other results will go their way.
In the fight for positions third placed Netherlands (52 points) will play bottom of the table Namibia (27 points) at the ICC Academy. Sharjah Cricket Stadium will play host to PNG (43 points) and Hong Kong (39 points). All matches will begin on November 29 at 9.30am local time. The competition that began in 2015 is into its seventh and final round, providing a multi-day cricket opportunities to Members outside of bilateral Test cricket. As part of the ICC’s commitment to the growth of the game, Afghanistan against the United Arab Emirates will be live streamed on the ICC website. There will be highlights packages available of all the remaining ICC Intercontinental Cup matches via the ICC social channels. Live scoring of all matches will be available via the ICC website.
Afghanistan captain, Ashgar Stanikzai is focused on ending the competition as winners.
“It has been our goal to win the ICC Intercontinental Cup and we are very much looking forward to the final match. We have had a number of training and preparations camps over the past year, the latest of which was in India. This has been very helpful in our preparation and are confident ahead of the match against UAE. We have come a long way from the beginning of this competition in 2015, where we are now playing test cricket and have obtained Full Member status, we want to end with winning the I-Cup.”
Ireland captain, William Porterfield is confident after good preparation ahead of the final match.
“The squad are really looking forward to the match we have been preparing well with a camp in La Manga and training in Dubai as well. It has been a great journey for ourselves and this tournament has played an important role in that as we have won it four times. We will be looking to finish strongly with a win against Scotland, as we are still in contention to win the competition if things go our way in the other match, but we have to take care of things at our end. Any match against Scotland is going to be a tough game.”
The squads are:
Afghanistan: Ashgar Stanikzai (c), Noor Ali Zadran, Javed Ahmadi, Ihsanullah Janat, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Nasir Jamal, Afsar Zazai, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Zaher Khan, Sharafuddin Asharaf, Dawlat Zadran, Yamin Ahmadzai.
Ireland: William Porterfield (c), Andrew Balbirnie, Peter Chase, George Dockrell, John Anderson, Barry McCarthy, Jacob Mulder, Kevin O’Brien, Gary Wilson, William Rankin, Niall O’Brien, Paul Stirling, Simranjit Singh, Timothy Murtagh.
Hong Kong: Babar Hayat (c), Ehsan Khan, Anshuman Rath, Christopher James Carter, Nizakat Khan Mohammad, Tanwir Afzal, Shahid Wasif, Tanveer Ahmed, Mohammad Aizaz Khan, Waqas Khan, Nadeem Ahmed, Ehsan Nawaz, Kyle Mullins Christie, Cameron Lachlan Mcauslan.
Namibia: Sarel Burger (c), Stephan Julian Baard, Zane Green, Johannes Smit, Bernhard Scholtz, Karl Birkenstock, Jean-Pierre Kotze, Craig George Williams, Danie van Schoor, Jan Frylinck, Colin James Peake, Louis van der Westhuisen, Tangeni Lungameni, Merwe Gerhard Erasmus.
Netherlands: Peter Borren (c), Wesley Barresi, Ben Cooper, Bastiaan de Leede, Scott Edwards, Vivian Kingma, Frederick Klaassen, Stephan Myburgh, Maxwell O’Dowd, Pieter Seelaar, Shane Snater, Roelof van der Merwe, Paul van Meekeren, Sikander Zulfiqar.
Papua New Guinea: Assad Vala (c), Lega Siaka, Mahuru Dia, Tony Ura, Dogodo Bau, Sese Bau, Kipling Doriga, Jack Vare, John Reva, Norman Vanua, Nosaina Pokana, Alei Nao, Damien Ravu, Chad Soper.
Scotland: Kyle Coetzer (c), Richard Berrington, Matthew Cross, Elliot Ruthven, Alasdair Evans, Safyaan Sharif, Michael Leask, Calum MacLeod, Mark Watt, George Munsey, Craig Wallace, Mitchell Rao, Christopher Sole, Stuart Whittingham.
United Arab Emirates: Rohan Mustafa (c), Chirag Suri, Shaiman Anwar, Rameez Shahzad, Muhammad Usman, Adnan Mufti, Saqlain Haider, Ahmed Raza, Muhammad Naveed, Imran Haider, Qadeer Ahmed, Muhammad Boota, Muhammad Amir Hayat, Muhammad Ashfaq Ahmed.
The match officials are:
29 November – 2 December – Hong Kong v PNG, Sharjah Cricket Stadium – Nigel Duguid and Ahmad Pakteen (on-field), Roland Black (third umpire), Manu Nayar (match referee).
29 November – 2 December – Ireland v Scotland, Dubai International Cricket Stadium – Nitin Menon and Huub Jansen (on-field), Iftikhar Ali (third umpire), Graeme Labrooy (match referee).
29 November – 2 December – UAE v Afghanistan, Zayed Cricket Stadium – Ahsan Raza and Allan Haggo (on-field), Alu Kapa (third umpire), Mohammad Anees (match referee).
29 November – 2 December – Netherlands v Namibia, ICC Academy – Saikat and Akbar Ali Khan (on-field), Tabarak Dar (third umpire), Akhtar Ahmad (match referee).
ICC Intercontinental Cup round 7 fixtures
Hong Kong v PNG, Sharjah Cricket Stadium – 29 November – 2 December – 0930 local time
Ireland v Scotland, Dubai International Cricket Stadium – 29 November – 2 December – 0930 local time
UAE v Afghanistan, Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi – 29 November – 2 December – 0930 local time
Netherlands v Namibia, ICC Academy, Dubai – 29 November – 2 December – 0930 local time
