Day Eight
Match of the Day: For a long time, it looked as if the clash between the two best-supported Associate nations would be lost to rain, but Nepal and Afghanistan managed to squeeze in a seven-over contest. This favours Afghanistan, whose batting has unrivalled firepower at this level, but Nepal weren't giving up without a fight. Sagar Pun and Gayanendra Mella each hit a brace of sixes as Afghanistan were set north of ten-per-over. a target that would have been far more without Shapoor Zadran and Mirwais Ashraf. The target posed little problem for Mohammad Shahzad though, and the crowd were repaid for their patience in pyrotechnic fashion. | Sometimes, there is no substitute for raw, brutal hitting. Mohammad Shahzad is good at that. | Elsewhere:
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Day Nine
Match of the Day: Namibia would guarantee a place in the playoffs by winning, while Canada would guarantee their elimination by losing, so the stakes could not have been higher. Canada got off to a reasonable start, but found it very difficult to push on against the tight spin of Bernard Scholtz. In the end, the spinner who cleaned up the wickets was not Bernaard, but his batsman brother Nicolaas, who took a five-for as the lower order tried desperately to add something of note in the last three overs. The Canadian bowlers tried desperately to restrict the scoring, Abzal Dean chief amongst them, keeping his four overs to fourteen runs, but the best way to stop scoring is to take wickets. Canada couldn't do that, so Williams and van der Westhuizen scored what they had to. | The Brothers Scholtz had a bountiful day with aggregate figures of 7-0-32-7. | Elsewhere: The penultimate day of the group stage was a quiet one with only four matches scheduled:
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Day Ten
Match of the Day: Oddly, the best cricketing action came in pretty much the only dead rubber of the day. Canada, already out of the playoffs, took on Italy, who had already qualified. The Canadian bowlers were out to prove their worth, though, and the three spinners kept things tight while Jeremy Gordon made the incisions. Only Damian Crowley, with an unbeaten 61, could do anything of note, while his side limped into three figures. Munasinghe, who has been terrific all tournament, set heartily about a defence that looked unlikely. He removed Gunasekera first ball, then Hiral Patel and Ashish Bagai too. Eventually, the final-over responsibility fell to him, but he couldn't stop Raza-ur-Rehman making good Cheema and Hansra's foundations. | Italy lost the battle but won the war; they have been consistent whenever Canada drop the ball. | Elsewhere: The rest of the games were notable for their drama and implications in the big picture of the tournament:
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On Wednesday, things really get going in earnest.The two quarter-finals take place, and will decide two of the qualifiers. Hong Kong v Nepal and Netherlands v UAE will see two more added to the Bangladesh tournament alongside Ireland and Afghanistan.
The two losers will play the two winners of the Qualifying Semis, between Italy and Scotland, and Namibia and PNG. To those of you thinking that the format sounds extremely complicated, I completely agree, but it is the fairest way of sorting the wheat from the chaff. Hopefully, they will maintain the high standard of this tournament to the very end.