A round-up of matches from the fifth day of the World Cup Qualifiers tournament in South Africa
Cricinfo staff08-Apr-2009Group BBermuda lost their ODI status after failing to qualify for the Super Eights following a 63-run defeat against Netherlands in Potchefstroom.Riding on Ryan ten Doeschate’s 67 and a late blitz from Edgar Schiferli, Netherlands set Bermuda a challenging target of 305. Schiferli provided the acceleration to take his team past 300, smashing 41 off 17 balls towards the final over. Bermuda opener David Hemp steered the chase with a steady 81 but although several other batsmen got starts, none of them made it count. Doeschate capped an all-round effort by picking up 3 for 51 as Bermuda were restricted to 241 for 9.Kenya secured their fourth consecutive win in Group B, beating Denmark comprehensively by nine wickets with 16.5 overs to spare in Potchefstroom. Peter Ongondo was impressive with the ball for Kenya, taking 1 for 21 off ten overs, while Elijah Otieno took 3 for 51 as Denmark were restricted to 173 for 8. Mickey Lund was their top-scorer with 45.Kenya lost their opener Maurice Ouma early during their chase but Kennedy Otieno and Seren Waters struck half-centuries to ensure a comfortable victory. Otieno was unbeaten on 84 off 95 balls with one six and ten fours while Waters made 61. They reached their target in the 34th over and finished the group stage with eight points from five matches.Click here for Will Luke’s bulletin on the match between Afghanistan and UAE.Group ACanada completed a thumping 148-run victory against Scotland in Benoni to finish among the top two in Group A of the World Cup Qualifiers. Scotland, however, also qualified for the Super Eights after winning three of their five matches.Canada made a solid start to their innings, with their openers adding 59, before they lost two wickets in three balls for no addition to the score. They lost another wicket to slip to 73 for 3 before the captain Ashish Bagai led the recovery by scoring 87. He steered Canada to a formidable total of 252 for 7. Craig Wright was Scotland’s best bowler, taking 3 for 23 in ten overs.Canada’s new-ball attack of Umar Bhatti and Henry Osinde wrecked the Scotland top-order, taking 3 for 31 and 2 for 14 respectively to reduce them to 33 for 5. None of the batsman, apart from Colin Smith who scored 43, passed 20 and the innings folded for 104 in the 31st over.Smith, was severely critical of the poor performance and said Scotland had he been “outplayed”. “But we were the architects of our own downfall,” he said. “We bowled poorly, too many extras, dropped too many catches. I can’t explain the way we batted. I’m astonished to be honest. I’m obviously very disappointed at the moment and I cannot be giving any answers to the way we’ve played today.”For us it’s a simple equation now. We have four games and we’re going to have to win them all. We’re going to have to show some character, some guts and desire that we actually want to get to this World Cup. So we’re going to have to up our game 50% at least.”Ireland maintained their unbeaten run in the group stage by beating Namibia by seven wickets in Johannesburg. They progressed to the Super Eights with five wins out of five, the only team to do so in the tournament. Namibia, on the other hand, clung on to their Super Eight spot by virtue of having a better net run-rate than both Oman and Uganda.Namibia were in deep trouble, sinking to 66 for 6, before a half-century from Nicholaas Scholtz and thirties from Deon Kotze and Ian van Zyl led them to 213. Ireland opener William Porterfield led a strong chase, scoring 84, and he was supported by Eoin Morgan, who made 42, and Niall O’Brien who scored an unbeaten 64. They reached their target of 214 with five overs to spare.Oman ended their World Cup Qualifier campaign with a bang, securing their first victory of the tournament with an extraordinary run-chase, beating Uganda by one wicket during a tense finish in Pretoria. Chasing 299 for victory, Oman were boosted by Farhan Khan who smashed 95 off 49 balls with seven sixes to give his team hope. However, they lost wickets at regular intervals and needed 23 runs to win at the fall of the eighth wicket in the 34th over. Hemal Mehta, who was the ninth man out for 49, and Haider Ali, unbeaten on 14, secured the victory.Oman’s effort snuffed out Uganda’s Super Eight hopes for they needed a victory to pip Namibia for the final spot from Group A. Their top-order batsman made solid contributions – Joel Olwenyi and Nehal Bibodi stood out with 85 and 54 respectively – to lead them to 298 for 5 but their bowlers were not up to the task of defending the total.
Ireland 5 5 0 00 10 +1.492 1115/204.4 989/250.0Canada 5 4 1 0 08 +1.490 1270/247.0 880/241.0 Scotland 5 3 2 0 0 6-0.318 1086/250.0 1108/237.4 Namibia 51 4 0 0 2 -0.5061104/250.0 1206/245.0 Uganda 5 14 0 0 2 -0.928 1082/250.01131/215.1 Oman 5 1 40 0 2 -1.144 1052/237.1 1395/250.0
Kenya 5 4 10 0 8 +1.683 1043/190.3 934/246.2 Netherlands 5 4 1 00 8 +0.557 1271/235.4 1205/249.1U.A.E. 5 4 1 0 08 -0.131 1173/243.4 1050/212.2 Afghanistan 5 2 3 0 0 4-0.278 1074/246.2 1130/243.4 Bermuda 51 4 0 0 2 -0.4411026/238.1 1150/242.1 Denmark 5 05 0 0 0 -1.341 1046/250.01164/210.4