Published: Jul 19, 2015, 11:32 PM (IST)
Edited: Jul 19, 2015, 11:32 PM (IST)
When the 11th day of the ongoing ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier 2015 and the last day of the group stages began, the anticipation seemed to be the determining of whether Namibia or Papua New Guinea would take the top spot with wins against supposed weaker teams. Wins by both teams woul most likely have put Namibia through to the ICC World Twenty20 2016 directly, with nine points and a healthy difference from Papua New Guinea in the net run-rate, and Ireland would have come third. An upset either way would have guaranteed second spot for Ireland, and the winners would have grabbed the coveted top spot. But none of this happened. USA put up a competitive 147 for 6, and stifled Papua New Guinea for an 18-run win, and Hong Kong blasted Namibia by 83 runs, a match that featured opener Irfan Ahmed scoring 98 off 55 balls. POINTS TABLE: ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier 2015
At The Village, Malahide, Dublin, USA got off to a flowing start after they were inserted in, as their openers Fahad Babar and Akeem Dodson put on 65 for the first wicket, in eight overs. Although wickets fell in the middle period and the run-rate stagnated, a sixth wicket stand of 21 in 1.3 overs at the death boosted their score. Papua New Guinea, in reply, started shakily. USA’s captain Muhammad Asad Ghous bowled a couple of quiet overs and took two wickets in one over, the second over of the innings, to peg their opposition back. They tried to build stands, but ate a lot of deliveries to get the required run-rate up, which, in the end, proved crucial as wickets fell in the death in search of runs. There were two runs that could have been avoided had the pressure not been high. This was USA’s third win of the tournament. UPDATES, DAY 11, ICC World Twenty2o Qualifier 2015
At Clontarf Cricket Club Ground, Dublin, Irfan Ahmed, Hong Kong’s opener, smashed four sixes and nine fours in his match-winning knock that lasted 17.3 overs, and proved the bedrock of his team’s innings. The wickets that fell later were not very relevant because the majority of the batting responsibility had already been shouldered. Ahmed struck stands of 56, 34, 31, and 34 for the first, second, third and fourth wickets. Namibia started briskly in reply, with 23 runs in 1.4 overs before the openers got out to medium-fast bowler Haseeb Amjad to be two down at the end of that over. They couldn’t recover well since, and after a fifth-wicket stand of 46 between Craig Williams and Sarel Burger, lost five wickets for 12 runs to be bowled out for 114. Left-arm spinner Nadeem Ahmed, who took 5 for 12 in 3.1 overs, was Hong Kong’s most successful bowler.
Hong Kong occupy second place in Group A, behind Ireland, meaning they are through to the playoffs. But USA, who had three wins in six games, were eliminated despite this win. The playoffs begin Tuesday. Afghanistan play Hong Kong in the first of those matches, followed by the match between Namibia and Netherlands.
Brief Scores:
United States of America 147 for 6 (Fahad Babar 38, Akeem Dodson 30, Nicholas Standford 40*; Charles Amini 2 for 20) beat Papua New Guinea 129 for 9 (Sese Bau 26, Kila Pala 21, Mahuru Dai 25; Muhammad Ghous 2 for 27, Timil Patel 2 for 32) by 18 runs
Hong Kong 197 for 8 (Irfan Ahmed 98, Jamie Atkinson 28; Gerrie Snyman 4 for 30) beat Namibia 114 (Sarel Burger 28, Craig Williams 27; Nadeem Ahmed 5 for 12) by 83 runs
