We have now had seven days of the Qualifier, and the time has come for another recap:
Day Five
Match of the Day: In any form of cricket, you can't say fairer than a last-ball thriller, and that is precisely what Italy and Namibia gave us on Tuesday. The third-place finishers from eighteen months ago have not had an easy tournament, and the last thing they needed was Italy fighting back from a collapse (27 for four) to post a moderately challenging total. Italy had Michael Raso to thank for their 121, as he played by far and away his best innings in an Italian shirt. Despite having the fire-power to theoretically make light work of their target, only Williams and van der Westhuizen could get the ball off the square. When Carl Sandri broke their partnership, Namibia folded like wet tissue paper, but had just enough in the tank for Jaen Kotze to see them home. | Ragheb Aga starred in Kenya's record-breaking win. | Elsewhere: On a day where six matches were played and well over 1500 runs were scored, none of the games could match Italy's low scorer for drama. That didn't mean the matches didn't have context, though.
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Day Six
Match of the Day: The most exciting game on Wednesday was quite the opposite to Tuesday's. It was not a close, even game, but a demonstration of true class and flair from Ireland and their skipper. Porterfield's maiden Twenty20 century totalled 127 not out in all. He contributed 68 of the 94-run opening stand, and 50 of the first 54. His partner: Paul Stirling, no slouch himself. Ireland posted a total of 216, which was many bridges and a couple of fields too far for the United States, who mustered a very good effort to get within 80. | Will Porterfield played the kind of innings every skipper dreams of. | Elsewhere: There were only three further games yesterday, and none of them particularly close.
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Day Seven
Match of the Day: Today, an unlikely pair produced a see-saw contest. Denmark and Afghanistan would have been expected to be a relatively short fixture, but the Danes finally got their act together with the bat to post a very respectable target of 145. This was a target that would prove to be a challenge for Afghanistan, despite specialist batsman Shafiqullah coming in at nine. In gunning for their Net Run Rate, the Afghan top order took too many risks. As wickets tumbled, it took a flurry of 36 runs in seven balls from Kamran and Rubin to put the Asian side back in front. Even so, a second collapse very nearly managed to undo Najibullah Zadran's hard work and pluck defeat from the jaws of victory. Shafiqullah, at nine, hit the winning runs. | Afghanistan provided most of the drama on a rain-hampered day. | Elsewhere: Today's cricket was rain-ravaged. Both Ireland-Italy and Uganda-USA were abandoned without a ball being bowled, leaving only two other games to take place.
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I think it's best to just watch, rather than keep guessing.