Ireland And Netherlands Keep Qualification Dream Alive

Ireland And Netherlands Keep Qualification Dream Alive

Paul Stirling raises his bat to celebrate his half-century in the game against Canada

©International Cricket Council

Ireland and the Netherlands kept their dream of qualifying for the ICC World Twenty20 2012 in Sri Lanka alive by winning knock-out matches against Canada and Scotland respectively.

Ireland thrashed Canada by ten wickets while the Netherlands had to work hard to overcome Scotland by three wickets. There were also wins in other play-off matches for Oman and Hong Kong.

Ireland109-0 beat Canada 106-8 by ten wickets

Three wickets apiece from Max Sorenson and George Dockrell put Ireland in a strong position as they held Canada to 106 for eight in their 20 overs. Trent Johnston grabbed two early wickets to finish with two for nine and only three Canadians could reach double figures, such was Ireland's grip on the game, Ruvindu Gunasekera top scoring with 26 and Tyson Gordon making 23.

Paul Stirling then blasted 61 not out in 32 balls and William Porterfield hit 42 not out in 25 balls as Ireland raced home in 9.3 overs.

Netherlands 169-7 beat Scotland 166-6 by three wickets

The Netherlands got through with five balls to spare as Scotland suffered their second defeat in a row and exited the competition. Callum MacLeod hit 57 in 42 balls and Richie Berrington made 37 in 25 balls to give Scotland a good start but two wickets apiece for Mudassar Bukhari, Pieteer Seelaar and Peter Borren ensured they closed on 166 for six. Netherlands then slipped to 67 for three before Tom Cooper's 60 in 32 balls, with four sixes, got them back on track. He fell with two overs remaining but the Netherlands got the job done thanks to Tom de Grooth's five not out and Tim Gruijters' unbeaten 11.

Ireland and the Netherlands will now face each other for the right to play the loser of the Afghanistan-Namibia match. The winner will qualify for the ICC World Twenty20.

Oman took their first win of the tournament by beating Denmark by 17 runs. Openers Zeeshan Siddiqui (67) and Jatinder Singh (56) helped set up their score of 155 for five before Denmark reached 136 for eight in reply.

Hong Kong scored a comprehensive five-wicket win over Uganda. Irfan Ahmed took three for 32 to restrict Uganda to 130 for eight and then struck an unbeaten 55 in 51 balls to guide his side to victory with four balls remaining.

© Cricket World 2012