ICC World Cricket League Division One, Day 5 Review
On day five of the ICC World Cricket League Division One, teams including Ireland, Afghanistan and the Scotland powered through to respective wins in their allotted matches for the day. Tournament favorites Ireland made it to the final with a win over Canada. Afghanistan on the other hand remained in the battle of making it to the final as they beat the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Netherlands-c753.
Ireland clinched its fourth consecutive victory of the WCL Division One by defeating Canada by five wickets at Amstelveen on Wednesday. The five-wicket win earned the Irish team a place in the final of the league, while http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Kenya-c752 in the fifth place match on Saturday.
Canada adopted a “win-the-toss-and-bat-first” strategy which did not work out well as the side kept on losing wickets at regular intervals without adding an imposing score to the scorecard. The only partnership that persisted for some time came out after a third wicket stand when Geoff Barnett and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ireland-c751 to limit Canada to a below-par 154 for 9.
Ireland started its innings in a convincing manner as the openers gave an opening stand of 50 runs lying down a strong foundation for a 154-run chase. But after Balbirnie’s dismissal in the eleventh over, Ireland lost four quick wickets. The side that was once 50 without any loss in the tenth over was struggling at 92-5 after the 24th over. Kevin O'Brien’s knock of an unbeaten 43 runs brought some stability to the innings. Along with John Mooney’s 44, the partnership led Ireland towards a five wicket victory in 39.1 overs. The all-round performance earned O'Brien the man-of-the-match title. The victory led Ireland to the final game where the opponent has not yet been decided.
In the second match of Day 5, Afghanistan shattered the hopes of Netherlands to play the final of tournament at their home ground. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Afghanistan-c745 bagged a comfortable six wicket win over the hosts at Voorburg.
Afghanistan, after winning the toss offered the hosts to bat first. Tom http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Cooper-c51561’s maiden ODI century was the only notable performance from the Dutch batting line. Cooper’s patient knock of 101 runs off 155 balls was not enough to hand the hosts a competitive target as it lacked support from the other end. Netherland set a below-par target of 203 runs for the loss of 8 wickets in 50 overs.
Afghanistan started its innings on a poor note, losing two early wickets at the score of just 8 runs. But the recovery was led by opener Karim Sadiq and Mohammad Shahzad. Both the players added 84 runs to the scorecard in the third wicket partnership. Wicketkeeper batsman Shahzad played a pugnacious knock of 63-ball 55 runs laced with ten boundaries and a six. Shahzad’s 55 supported by an unbeaten 67 of skipper Nowroz Mangal led the Afghanistan side to a four wicket win within 42.3 overs. In the last match of Day 5, Kenya faced a fourth-successive defeat against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Scotland-c756 in Rotterdam. By clinching a six run victory over Kenya, the Scots made their way to the virtual semi-finals against Afghanistan.
Batting first, Scotland managed to score 172-8 in their 50 overs innings. The Scottish batting line was not impressive at all against the Kenyan bowlers as five of the batsmen lost their wickets without entering into double figures. In return, the entire Kenyan team was bowled out in 48.4 overs, falling six runs short of the total. Matthew Parker's four-wicket haul led the Scottish side to a six run victory.
Tags: