Beyond the Boundary!

Ireland have beaten Bangladesh by six wickets to qualify for the Super 8 stage at the World Twenty20.

Ireland won the toss and put Bangladesh into bat. Bangladesh had a couple of big over early on, but that was it until the slog overs at the end of their innings. Trent Johnstone bowled his four overs in one spell at the beginning of the innings, taking 3/20, and the off-spin of Kyle McCallan was crucial in restricting the Bangladeshis in the middle overs, going for just 17 runs from his four overs.

Mashrafe Mortaza smashed a quickfire 33 from 16 balls to give the Bangladesh total a little more respectability, but 137/8 isn’t enough in Twenty20 cricket, whomever your opponents are.

Ireland lost Jeremy Bray early in their innings, before a 55 run second wicket partnership between Niall O’Brien and William Porterfield recovered the innings before O’Brien was out for 40 from 25 balls. The other O’Brien brother, Kevin, then clubbed 39 from 17 balls, hitting the winning boundary to secure the six wicket win and Ireland’s Super 8 spot.

A last ball finish, an associate beating a full member (with Mike Atherton on the Sky Sports coverage, no less) what a match to open the 2009 World Twenty20 as the Netherlands beat England by four wickets.

England got off to a great start with a century opening stand, but the Dutch bowlers recovered in the final overs. Ryan ten Doeschate took the wickets of Wright and Bopara, and every big hit England tried seemed to find a fielder in an orange shirt, including a ridiculous reverse sweep from Owen (sic) Morgan.

The England total of 162 should have been enough, and it was looking bad for the Dutch when they lost Alexei Kervezee in the first over of their reply. But they stayed in, and most importantly, launched a few balls over the boundary rope, something that eluded England, and found the gaps with the hits along the ground. They were also aided by some woeful England fielding.
Tom de Grooth played an innings that he’ll be talking about for some years to come, scoring 49 from 30 balls, and that was before ten Doeschate and Edgar Schiferli played out a nailbiting final over.

With seven needed, they took singles from the first five balls, Schiferli surviving a run out attempt when Stuart Broad let go of the ball sliding in to take the bails off. The Dutch then scampered a single from the last ball, but a throw from Broad missed the stumps and they ran through for an overthrow to spark wild scenes of celebration from the men in orange.

Whilst England will no doubt say that this tournament doesn’t matter as the real event of the summer is the Ashes, that’s precisely their problem. For years England have only cared about the Ashes at the expense of every other Test series, ODI series, Twenty20 international and international tournament. Not even a world cup could get them out of their obsession with that little urn.

This, and many other excuses will no doubt be trotted out today, but the simple fact is this - England were beaten by a team that wanted to be in the tournament, a team that has confidence in themselves, a team that was simply better.

Bahrain have won the first WCL Division Seven title after beating Guernsey by 3 wickets in yesterdays final. Guernsey scored 204/9 from their 50 overs with Qamar Saeed taking 5/44. Bahrain had a scare in their reply when they were reduced to 119/6 but they recovered to reach their target in their 47th over.

Nigeria beat Japan by 68 runs to finish third, whilst Suriname beat Gibraltar in a cracker of a match to finish fifth. Troy Dudnath smashed 130 from 90 balls to lead Suriname to a total of 300/9 from their 50 overs. Gibraltar almost reached their target too, falling just short with 292/9 from their 50 overs, losing by 8 runs.

Guernsey thumped Suriname today thanks to a fine all-round performance from Jeremy Frith. Frith scored 106 from 86 balls as Guernsey scored 315/3 from their 50 overs and then took five wickets for just eight runs as the South American side was bowled out for just 52, Guernsey winning by 263 runs to secure their promotion to Division Six.
Bahrain also had a big win today, an unbeaten 104 from Ashraf Yaqoob leading them to a total of 273/5 from their 50 overs. Zafar Zaheer was then the pick of their bowlers with 4/27 as they bowled out Nigeria for 97, winning by 176 runs.

The other match of the day was somewhat closer, with Japan beating Gibraltar by 29 runs.

Suriname and Gibraltar are now relegated to Division Eight, whilst Japan and Nigeria stay in Division Seven. The play-off matches take place tomorrow.

Canada have won the Women’s Americas Championship that has been played in Florida over the last week.

The tournament started with six teams playing a Twenty20 phase - Argentina, Bermuda, Brazil - playing for the first time in this event, Canada, international debutants the USA and a Trindiad & Tobago youth development XI.

Trinidad & Tobago won the Twenty20 phase, though they were ineligible for the second phase which was contested by the second, third and fourth placed teams - Canada, Argentina and the USA. Brazil and Bermuda were to play off for fifth place but the game was washed out.

The second stage consisted of 40 over matches. Bermuda beat Brazil to finish fourth, whilst Argentina, Canada and the USA played off for the title.

In the first women’s match between Canada and the USA - a full 165 years since the men’s sides first played each other - Canada won by 40 runs. The USA then beat Argentina by 9 wickets and the Argentina v Canada match was washed out, giving Canada the title, with the hosts finishing as runners-up.

Canada and the USA will now play a three match series against each other some time next year, with the winners progressing to the qualifier for the 2013 World Cup, set to take place some time in 2011.

As we had into the first proper rest day, Bahrain can relax a little after securing promotion to WCL Division 6.

They secured their spot with a thumping win over Japan. Bahrain batted first and lost wickets early, but the middle order recovered and they scored 260 before being bowled out in their final over. Patrick Giles-Jones continued his fine form by taking 5/39. Japan struggled when it was their turn to bat, being bowled out for 64 to lose by 196 runs.

Hosts Guernsey were up against Nigeria and the African side scored 217/5 from their 50 overs, Endurance Ofem top scoring with an unbeaten 78. But Jeremy Frith led the way for Guernsey, hitting an unbeaten 101 to lead Guernsey to an eight wicket win.

Gibraltar batted first against Suriname and scored 218/8. Iain Latin then took 6/23 as Suriname were bowled out for 179, Gibraltar winning by 39 runs.

Today is a rest day, and the tournament resumes tomorrow. Guernsey need a win over Suriname to be absolutely sure of promotion, whilst if they lose Nigeria would have to beat Bahrain by a big enough margin to increase their net run rate above Guernsey’s.

Bahrain remain the only unbeaten team in WCL7 after they beat Guernsey by 25 runs yesterday.

Bahrain batted first and scored 257/9 from their 50 overs, Ashrah Yaqoob top scoring with 101. They then restricted the hosts to 232/9 from their 50 overs to win by 25 runs.

Patrick Giles-Jones put in a remarkable spell of bowling for Japan against Suriname, taking seven wickets for just nine runs as the South Americans were bowled out for 66. Japan then knocked off the runs in 20.4 overs to win by eight wickets.

Gibrlatar’s Kabir Mirpuri also bowled well, taking six wickets as Nigeria were restricted to 217/8 from their 50 overs. But Nigeria also bowled well and bowled out their opponents for 129 to win by 88 runs.

In their last Friends Provident Trophy match, Ireland have beaten Worcestershire by 94 runs. Ireland scored 152 when they batted, but Peter Connell took 5/19 to help bowl out the county side for just 58 in 20.3 overs. Ireland now start their preparations for the World Twenty20.

The ICC have announced a few venues for upcoming tournaments:

World Twenty20 2010 Qualifier: UAE (date to be announced - late in 2009)
Under-19 World Cup 2010 Qualifier: Canada (September)
2010 WCL5 - Nepal (January)
2010 WCL4 - Italy (June)

Fresh after being relegated to the new Intercontinental Cup Division Two despite finishing as runners-up, Namibia have now been screwed out of a place in the World Twenty20 qualifier.

The top seven teams from the WCQ are playing in the tournament in the UAE - plus the USA. That’s right, the USA - ranked THIRTEEN PLACES BELOW NAMIBIA!!!

Namibia must be wondering what they’ve done to piss off the ICC.