VICTORIA: The ICC Men’s T20 world cup tournament is currently underway in Australia. A close match between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Netherlands ended short while ago at Kardinia Park, Geelong, Victoria. Netherlands secured a last over win by 3wickets chasing the target of 111 / 8 set by the UAE.
Earlier today Namibia won by 55 runs against the Asian T20 Champion, Sri Lanka which has resulted in possible changes in the T20 World Cup Tournament path. If Sri Lanka wins the rest of the matches and qualifies for the Group round, it now stands the chance to play in Group 2 with India, Pakistan, South Africa and Bangladesh while if Sri Lanka were toppers in the qualifying round they ideally should have been playing in Group 1 against hosts Australia, England , New Zealand and Afghanistan.
UAE skipper won the toss and decided to bat first. UAE opener Muhammad Waseem contributed 41 runs off 47 balls to keep UAE total steady and UAE score was 91 for 3 wickets at the end of 16 overs. However 5 more wickets fell quickly and the UAE had to be content with only 111 runs off 20 overs (fall of 8 wickets). Bas De Leede bowled best for the Netherlands picking 3 wickets for 19 runs.
Chasing only 112 runs, Netherlands played cautiously and reach 62 runs for the loss of 3 wickets by the end of the 10th over. Max O’Dowd top scored with 23 runs. Junaid Siddique bowling the 14th over stunned Netherlands with 2 quick wickets and had Netherland struggling at 76 runs for 6 wickets. Junaid bowled brilliantly to pick 3 wickets for 24 runs. Needing 6 runs in the last over with 3 wickets in hand Netherlands’s skipper Edwards guided Netherlands to victory by scoring a valuable 16 runs off 19 balls. Netherlands reached 112 for loss of 7 wickets in 19.5 overs.
At the end of day 1, Namibia and Netherlands secure 2 points and resides in No.1 and No.2 position while Sri Lanka are fourth in the Group A points table with a negative 2.75 run rate which may haunt Sri Lanka in its road to the World Cup. Two more qualifying round matches are scheduled tomorrow at Hobart between West Indies and Scotland at 9.30 am and Zimbabwe will play Ireland at 1.30 pm.(RZ)
