Scotland beat Oman to finish fifth
- Scotland beat Oman in the fifth-place play-off by five wickets
- Ireland face the Netherlands in the first semi-final and PNG take on Namibia in the second
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Both sides had already qualified for next year’s World Cup in Australia thanks to their results earlier in the tournament, and Scotland ensured they finished fifth thanks to an excellent innings from Player of the Match Matthew Cross.
The top four sides will be decided over the next two days when Ireland face the Netherlands and Papua New Guinea take on Namibia in the semi-finals.
Scotland end tournament on a high with five wicket victory over Oman
Matthew Cross inspired Scotland to victory over Oman in their final game at the ICC Men’s T20 Qualifiers.
Cross hit an unbeaten 61 off 45 balls to help Scotland win by five wickets in the fifth-place play-off.
Oman batted first and put on 167 for 7 from their 20 overs with Khawar Ali top scoring with 43 from 29 balls.
But Scotland got home with an over to spare thanks to Cross and Michael Leask (38) guiding them to victory.
Scotland captain Kyle Coetzer said: “Everyone was in a pretty good place and more relaxed than yesterday.
“I think we need a bit more consistency at the top of the order and to try and build partnerships. Surfaces will be different in Australia so we will have to prepare for that and how players take shots on.
“We are very proud to do what we have here and reached a World Cup. T20 cricket seems to be the driving force of world cricket at the moment.”
Oman captain Zeeshan Maqsood said: “It was quite hard to play back to back games, so we were a bit tired, but that is not an excuse.
“We scored just under 170 runs and that was good sign but I think on a batting wicket we were 15 to 20 runs short.
“We have to look at all areas of our game – bowling, batting and fielding – and try and minimise our mistakes and try and work hard on fixing those.”
Scores in brief:
Scotland beat Oman by five wickets, Dubai International Cricket Stadium
Oman 167-7, 20 overs (Khawar Ali 43, Mehran Khan 29, Alasdair Evans 3-36)
Scotland 168-5, 19 overs (Matthew Cross not out, Michael Leask 38, Bilal Khan 2-38)
Netherlands take on Ireland for final place
Both Netherlands and Ireland have already booked their places at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia next year – but both sides will be eager to make the final in Dubai on Saturday.
Netherlands captain Pieter Seelaar has been impressed with his bowling attack and especially the performances of Paul van Meekeren and Brandon Glover.
He said: “In terms of real X factor players we have Paul van Meekeren and Brandon Glover.
“I think they have bowled very well throughout the tournament. Pretty much every time Paul or Brendon have had the ball in their hands, whether it be in the PowerPlay or if they have had to comeback, they have always managed to make the breakthrough.
“The bowling has definitely been our strong suit throughout the tournament. But we have had five player of the match awards during the tournament, so it shows it is not down to one or two players. But those two have been match winners for us.
And if Seelaar believes that his side are yet to reach their best at this tournament yet.
He added: “We have still not hit our full straps yet and the semi-final against Ireland is a chance to do that.
“One advantage we have going into that game is that we have played in the stadium quite a bit. Our games with Ireland have been very close in recent times.”
Namibia look to complete turnaround against PNG
Namibia and Papua New Guinea have already met at this tournament and it proved to be a key moment for the southern African side.
PNG won by 81 runs and left Namibia winless after two games and facing an uphill task to qualify for the World Cup and the latter stages of the tournament.
But after a series of stern meetings amongst the players and staff, Namibia went on a run of five wins to qualify for the World Cup next year and one match away from the final.
Namibia captain Gerhard Erasmus was full of praise for the team’s coaching team who gave the teams some harsh words.
He said: “We were staring down the barrel after two defeats and our net run-rate down the drain, so there had to be some strong words.
“A few meetings in hotel rooms and I can’t repeat what was said but it has been hard. We have been in darker places in this tournament than we are currently in and I will remember those times.
“I remember our second loss of the tournament against PNG where we practically got drubbed and it was not all roses.
“The staff expect everyone to give their best and as a cricketer and a human being you need those kinds of leaders otherwise you just end up as an average cricketer.”
PNG topped Group A with five wins from their six games.
ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier Fixtures (local time)
1 November - Semi-final 1 – Ireland v Netherlands (14h10), Semi-final 2 – PNG v Namibia (19h30)
2 November - Third place Play-off (14h10), Final (19h30)