TOURNAMENT REVIEW
Follow UsWith the T20 World Cup 2024 expanded to 20 teams, we are no longer going to have a single qualifying tournament where teams from different regions participate for a couple of spots in the main event. That effectively means that the teams qualifying from their respective regional finals, make it straight to the mega event in the US and West Indies, next year.
Had Ireland and Scotland not made it to the T20 World Cup from the European Qualifiers, it would have been a massive upset indeed. They were up against lower-ranked sides like Jersey, Denmark, Austria, Germany and Italy. However, in the recent past, we have seen teams like Namibia beat Sri Lanka, Netherlands beat West Indies, and Scotland beat Zimbabwe. Hence, taking any team lightly would be a mistake as a few full-members found out recently.
After playing their first-ever T20 World Cup in 2021, Papua New Guinea (PNG) broke little sweat in the T20 World Cup East Asia Pacific Qualifier to book their place for the 2024 edition.
As a result, we now have 15 teams who have qualified for the T20 World Cup 2024. The remaining five – two from Asia, two from Africa and one from Americas – will be decided in due course.
Consolation for Scotland?
Scotland were just one win away from making it to the ODI World Cup, but unfortunately for them, a resolute Netherlands team stood in their way. While qualifying for that would have arguably been the biggest moment in their history, participating in the T20 World Cup means just as much for Scotland. After all, they beat Test nations like Bangladesh and West Indies in the last two editions, and one cannot discount them adding a few more scalps in 2024.
Coming to the Europe Qualifier, Scotland were invincible. Only Jersey, ranked 21st in the world, gave them any sort of fight, but as they have shown on more than one occasion in the last two years, someone has put their hands up and delivered. In this game, it was Mark Watt, who came good with four wickets and also an unbeaten 22-ball 31 earlier, proving to be vital in Jersey’s pursuit of 150.
Jersey looked down and out when Ben Ward (47* off 29) walked in at seven. He batted well with the tail as well, but in the end, Scotland held on to a 14-run win.
Barring that, Scotland did not bat an eye in other matches. Some standout performances other than Watt’s all-round show were record-breaking tons by Oli Hairs and George Munsey. Hairs, who had announced his retirement in January this year, returned to the side with the fastest T20I ton, getting to the landmark off just 40 deliveries against Italy.
A day later, Munsey, whose record Hairs broke, smashed Austria all around the park to bring up his hundred off just 50 deliveries. Moreover, pacers Brad Currie and Gavin Main finished with 12 and 11 wickets respectively. They are also the only bowlers to pick up a fifer in the tournament.
Shaky Ireland get the job done
Since 2018, Ireland’s journey as a full-member status has been a whirlwind one. They have had their ups, but at the same time, their downfall has been epic. Their one-wicket loss to Scotland in the ODI World Cup Qualifiers is certainly something they would have found it tough to shrug off, but in the European Qualifiers recently, their performances on more than one occasion have been a touch dicey.
In the T20 World Cup 2021, they were beaten by Namibia – a relatively new side at the highest level – which was certainly a low for them, but in the recent qualifiers that loss could have been overshadowed had they gone down to Italy, ranked 35 in the world. Italy did very well to restrict Ireland to just 158, led by a brilliant spell by skipper Gareth Berg (3 for 24) and Harry Manenti (3 for 39).
Ireland bowlers were a tad sloppy giving away 13 runs through wides. While none of the Italian batters scored more than 26, they kept the scoreboard ticking but eventually fell short by just seven runs.
Before Ireland took on Scotland in the final game of the tournament, both teams had already qualified. It was just a question of who will finish on top. Fifties from Brandon McMullen (68 off 35) and skipper Richie Berrington (54 off 29), followed by some terrific hitting down the order took Scotland to a formidable 213 for 6. In reply, while Ireland kept up with the run-rate, they found themselves six-down in the 10th over.
Mark Adair then decided to play his finest innings, smashing six sixes and four fours on his way to 72 with a strike-rate of 200, to give his side a whiff. However, when they needed 18 more off 11, Currie, struck to pick up his fifth wicket of the game. When every Scottish bowler conceded at least 10 an over, Currie conceded at just 3.20 an over, bowled a maiden and picked up five wickets. A truly special performance from the left-arm pacer.
PNG bounce back
Despite just having a population of 9.4 million, PNG can be proud of making yet another T20 World Cup, after playing their first one in 2021 in the middle-east. Playing their maiden World Cup too did not come without any struggle or drama.
In one of the most famous matches in their history, PNG overcame Kenya in the 2019 T20 World Cup Qualifiers, after being reduced to 19 for 6 at the end of four overs. They went on to put up 118 and won the match by 45 runs thanks to an all-round effort by Norman Vanua to book their place in their maiden T20 World Cup.
However, they have been on a downward spiral ever since. They lost all three matches in the T20 World Cup 2021, won just five out of their 36 ODIs in the ICC CWC League 2 to finish bottom of the table, and to make matters worse, they could not hang on to their ODI status, with Canada replacing them.
However, a glimmer of hope presented itself when they were pipped against the Philippines, Vanuatu and Japan, who are over 40 places below the Barramundis in the T20I rankings. They were barely tested in any of the games and won all their six games – all at home – in the East Asia Pacific Qualifier 2023 to book their ticket to yet another World Cup. Is this the beginning of the turnaround for the Assad Vala-led side?
