ICC World T20 Qualifiers report, day 2: Wins for Ireland, Nepal, Kenya and Afghanistan

Kenya beat Canada comfortably

Hosts Ireland brush aside Namibia, Nepal see off USA , fiery Afghans thump UAE and sorry Canada lose to Kenya. Here are the highlights of the World T20 Qualifiers Day 2:

Match 3; Ireland vs Namibia,Stormont, Belfast

Namibia 124-8 in 20 overs (Mooney 3-23, Dockrell 2-15) defeated by Ireland128-3 in 17.2 overs (Porterfield 56*, N O’Brien 45) by 7 wickets

Defending champions Ireland kicked off their this year’s T20 Qualifier campaign with a comfortable win over Namibia on Friday. After opting to bowl first, the Irish dominated the play and didn’t let Namibia settle into the game by taking wickets at regular intervals. John Mooney, the right arm pacer, ran through the Namibian top order taking the important wickets of Stephen Baard, Gerrie Snyman and Raymond van Schoor.

Any hopes of Namibia settling into the game afterwards were soon extinguished by the Irish slow bowlers namely George Dockrell (2-15) and Paul Stirling (1-20) as they cut off the run flow and chipped in with wickets.

In reply, Ireland didn’t start off well. Stirling was caught by Baard at short cover off Davidson in the very first over. However, their skipper Porterfield and Niall O’Brien took control of the innings and put them into a secure position. Porterfield scored a fifty in the process and Niall was caught at 45.And a short cameo from Balbirnie got them their first victory of the tournament.

MOTM: George Munsey(Ireland):”I’m not 100 percent pleased, to be honest, because I bowled a wide and got hit for six off my last ball. More importantly we got the win – it was a great start. Namibia have beaten us before in this tournament so it was crucial to beat them in the first game. I bowled a good over first over and they didn’t get any runs off it but Cusie (Alex Cusack) bowled well also.Every game is going to be difficult. I haven’t even looked at the other group because it doesn’t affect me until the semi-finals, if we get there. In our next game, I see us beating USA if we play properly but if we take our eyes off the ball it will be another difficult game. We’ll treat them exactly as we would any other team and hopefully we’ll get the positive result.”

Match 4: Canada vs Kenya, Watson’s, Edinburgh

Canada 143-5 in 20 overs (Gunasekara 51, Cheema 35; Odhiambo 2-22) defeated by Kenya 146-3 in 18.3 overs (Karim 74, Ouma 34; Gordon 2-23) by 7 wickets

After put into batting first, Canada raced off to 82-0 in nine overs and looked well set to put a mammoth total but squandered the chance putting in a nightmarish finish. Kenya did some impressive middle overs bowling to restrict them to just 143.

In reply, Irfan Karim played a marvellous knock scoring 74 off just 54 balls comprising of 7 fours and 3 sixes to guide Kenya towards a comfortable victory in the end, remaining not out in the process.

Match 5: Nepal vs USA, Stormont

USA 121/10 in 20 overs (Dodson 39; Gauchan 3-16, Regmi 3-24) defeated by Nepal 122/4 in 19.4 overs (Malla 52, Mandal 29; J Singh 2-23) by 6 wickets

A great spin bowling performance helped Nepal see off USA in their first game of the campaign in Stormont on Friday. After opting to bat first, USA were initially a steady ship silently sailing towards a modest total until the introduction of the left-hand spinners by Nepal. Veteran left-arm spin duo of Gauchan and Regmi demolished USA’s top and middle order with each bowler bagging three scalps each.

Gauchan was especially very miserly in his spell of four overs in which he conceded only sixteen runs delivering 12 dot balls in the process. Their young bowlers also put in a fine performance with Sagar and Sompal each claiming a wicket to restrict the USA to just 121.

In reply, Nepal’s openers again failed to give a solid start. Opener Sagar Pun departed on the very first over and the team only scored 27 runs in the powerplay. However, their charismatic vice-captain Gyanendra Malla played a responsible innings of 52 runs in 43 deliveries to guide them forward. The second wicket stand of 78 runs between Anil and Gyanendra slowly turned the game in Nepal’s favour.

However, both of them returned to the pavillion in a space of 5 balls to spice things up. Nevertheless, the calm-headed skipper Paras Khadka got them over the line with two balls to spare.

MOTM: Shakti Gauchan( Nepal)

Match 6: UAE vs Afghanistan, Grange,Edinburgh

UAE 164/6 in 20 overs ( M Shahzad 43, S Anwar 35; M Ashraf 2-21) defeated by Afghanistan 168/2 in 17.2 overs ( M Shahzad 74, A Stanikzai 44, S Shenwari 30*) by 8 wickets

Afghanistan sprinted to their second consecutive victory in the tournament after a 8 wicket win over the UAE in Grange, Edinburgh on Friday, thanks to a power-packed innings from their destructive opener Mohammed Shehzad. UAE, however, were handed their second consecutive loss in the tournament despite playing a good, positive cricket as they were up against a fierce, merciless Afghan charge.

After opting to bat first, UAE showed a positive aggressive attitude as they came out all guns blazing. Their scoring rate was consistently over 8 and they were playing some delightful strokes to get a boundary each over. Their Mohammed Shehzad also had a good outing as he blasted 3 fours and 3 sixes to score 43 from just 28. Each batsmen chipped in to take UAE to what looked like a respectful total.

But it was just too small a total for the Afghans. They started the chase positively with their opener Mohammed Shehzad scoring a quickfire 74 from just 35 which included 5 monstrous sixes out of the park. They chased the target in just 17.2 overs handing UAE their second consecutive defeat.

MOTM : M Shahzad (Afghanistan):”164 was a good score, but we knew we have the batsmen to chase it down. Great to have played my part and come back to form. It is a good thing for me, and my team, both. The wicket was a great one for batting. The conditions here do not suit us, so every game we play is an important one."