Scotland qualify for Super Sixes as UAE consolidate their position as well in making it

Scotland became the first team to secure their spot in the Super Sixes stage in ICC World Cup Qualifiers with a 4-wicket victory over Nepal to stay unbeaten in Group B after three group matches. Their final match of the group stage will be against host’s Zimbabwe.

United Arab Emirates also consolidated their bid to qualify for Super Sixes stage after registering their 2nd victory in three group matches in Group A as they defeated Netherlands by 6 wickets.

Nepal were bowled out for 149 after skipper Paras Khadka’s 63 saved them the blushes as their top and middle order fizzled against the Scottish pace bowlers. Paras, in turn, also crossed the 1000 List A runs mark. Stuart Whittingham narrowly missed out on a hat-trick but claimed three wickets to derail the Nepal innings at the top of the order. Safyaan Sharif and Alasdair Evans also collected two wickets apiece.

Nepal bowlers gave their best shot in defending the below-par score but managed to pick up 6 wickets as Scotland skipper Kyle Coetzer played the anchor role and stayed unbeaten on 88 runs to take the team to 153/6 in the 42nd over.

UAE players showed the urgency and intensity in their bowling effort as they bowled out Netherlands for 176 in the 47th over. Netherlands total was set up by Wesley Barresi (37 off 55), Ryan ten Doeschate (34 off 60) and Scott Edwards (27 off 39) as UAE bowlers did not let the dutch batsmen to carry on to make bigger scores. UAE skipper Rohan Mustafa was instrumental with the ball as he picked up five wickets while the rest of the bowlers contributed with a wicket apiece.

UAE’s chase by orchestered by former IPL player, Chirag Suri, who played a calm and composed unbeaten knock of 78 runs and forged a crucial unbeaten partnership of 93 runs for the 5th wicket with Muhammad Usman (36 n.o off 47), which took UAE to 177/4 in 44 overs. Tim van der Gugten, Paul van Meekeren, Roelof van der Merwe & Peter Seelaar picked up a wicket apiece as Netherlands suffered their 2nd consecutive defeat in the group stage and now are left with two more matches to make amends and try to qualify for Super Sixes stage.

ICC World Cup Qualifiers Points Table (Updated as on 08th Mar 2018):