Day one of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier turned out to be a mind-blowing one as Singapore, carrying on from their humbling of Zimbabwe a few weeks back, trumped highly rated Associates, Scotland at Dubai. Ireland thumped Hong Kong while Netherlands got the better of old warhorses, Kenya, in the other results from the first day.
Scotland vs Singapore
At Dubai, Singapore won the toss and opted to bat first against strong opponents Scotland. Powered by Surendran Chandramohan’s half-century from the top of the order and Aritra Dutta’s late blitz, Singapore made a total of 168 in their full quota of overs. Scotland began with aplomb, stitching together a 70-run opening stand in 7.4 overs. Once George Munsey was dismissed by Sidhant Singh, wickets fell quickly. Calum MacLeod revived the innings but Selladore Vijayakumar kept pegging Scotland back. With eight to defend in the final over by Amjad Mahboob, Singapore edged Scotland by two runs.
Singapore 168/6 (Surendran Chandramohan 51, Josh Davey 2/26) beat Scotland 166/9 (George Munsey 46, Selladore Vijayakumar 3/16)
Hong Kong vs Ireland
Kinchit Shah’s exploits gave Hong Kong a total of 153 in their Group B game against Ireland in the T20 World Cup Qualifiers. Mark Adair was the pick of the bowlers with 2 for 22 in a four over spell. If it seemed like a competitive total, Ireland were quick to dispel that with a stunning counter-attack. Paul Stirling (62 in 36 balls) and Andy Balbirnie (70 in 53 balls) put on an 86-run stand after which Harry Tector just gave Balbirnie company to finish the game.
Hong Kong 153/5 (Kinchit Shah 79, Mark Adair 2/22) lost to Ireland (Paul Stirling 62, Andy Balbirnie 70*) by 8 wickets
Netherlands vs Kenya
At the ICC Academy in Dubai, Netherlands opted to bat and made 166 for four in 20 overs powered by opener Max ODowd’s 53 and a late order partnership between Roelof van der Merwe and Pieter Seelar. The two added 40 in the last four overs as Netherlands put Kenya under pressure. In the run-chase, Kenya were propelled by Collins Obuya’s 40-ball 63. He had also earlier taken 2 for 16 in three overs. The veteran Kenyan’s performance wasn’t enough to salvage Kenya’s innings and they ended up 30 runs short with Paul van Meekeren making impactful blows.
Netherlands 166/4 (Max ODowd 53, Collins Obuya 2/16) beat Kenya (Collins Obuya 63, Paul van Meekeren 3/27) by 30 runs.
Oman v UAE
UAE’s wretched week continued as they succumbed to a seven wicket loss to Oman at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. Opting to bowl first, Oman reduced USE to 29/3 within the powerplay. The recovery was slow and it never gained momentum resulting in a well below par total of 108 despite batting all 20 overs. In response, Aqib Ilyas (45 in 51 balls) and Aamir Kaleem (27 in 19 balls) helped Oman breeze past the target with more than an over to spare.
UAE 108/9 in 20 overs (Muhammad Usman 27, Fayyaz Butt 3/16) lost to Oman 109/3 (Aqib Ilyas 45, Aamir Kaleem 27)