Nepal catch turns heads, West Indies skipper rejoins small group: CWC23 Qualifier Daily Digest - Day 5

The Cricket World Cup Qualifier Daily Digest - Day 5 is your one-stop destination to keep track of everything CWCQ, be it breaking news, quirky statistics or behind-the-scenes content.

• Sri Lanka v Oman
• Scotland v UAE

CWC Qualifier 2023: All you need to know

Kushal Bhurtel’s stunning grab

Nepal might have found the going tough against West Indies in the Group A fixture in Harare, but Kushal Bhurtel made headlines with a brilliant running catch to send back Kyle Mayers.

Bhurtel had turned heads in the opening game of the Qualifier against USA when he made 99 off 95 balls against USA.

2023 Cricket World Cup Qualifier Standings

'Probably my best!’– Scotland hero Michael Leask reacts to his match-winning knock

After a mind-blowing knock that helped Scotland out from a rut and pull off an incredible run-chase, Michael Leask was very candid in his chat to the ICC about the innings and the team’s tournament aspirations.

"It's probably one of my best knocks I've played in a Scotland shirt,” Leask told ICC. “That meant a lot to me, that. I owe a lot to the team. I owe a lot to this team. I've played for a few years now and never really got them over the line so to do that was very special."

Leask and the team aren’t yet dreaming about India later this year, though.

"I think this is game one in that journey [to the Cricket World Cup]. We've still got three more group games, three very tough group games. There's a lot of good cricket going on. We take it step by step, but obviously we know the end goal, we know we want to win the tournament."

Shai Hope re-enters rare group

With his 15th ODI ton, Shai Hope’s ODI average has gone back up over 50. Having batted more than 100 times in the format, Hope is one of the select few to top 50 in terms of batting averages.

The others on the list? Virat Kohli, Michael Bevan, AB de Villiers, MS Dhoni and Joe Root. Definitely not the worst group of players to be clubbed along with.

CWCQ – The format

Two groups, each made up of five teams, play a round-robin series within their group.

The top three teams in each group then progress to the CWC Qualifier Super Six stage, while carrying over their results from the two matches against the other teams to advance from their initial group.

The teams that progress to the Super Six stage will then play the three teams to advance from their opposite group to complete the pivotal match-ups.

The top two teams at the end of the Super Six stage will book their ticket to the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 in India later this year, while also facing off in a CWC Qualifier Final on July 9.

Cricket World Cup Qualifier teams

Ireland, Nepal, Netherlands, Oman, Scotland, Sri Lanka, UAE, USA, West Indies and Zimbabwe make up the 10 teams playing in the Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2023.

Follow Cricket World Cup Qualifier live scores

Follow the live scores in the Cricket World Cup Qualifier in the ICC Match Centre.

Match Centres and Scorecards