World T20 qualifier between Hong Kong and Afghanistan to be investigated for

The winners of those two games in Malahide on Tuesday will join Ireland and Scotland in qualifying for India while the losers must then play off against the fourth-placed teams from the group stage, Papua New Guinea and Oman, for the final two qualification spots.

The Afghanistan cricket team recorded three consecutive wins in ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier against Netherlands, United Arab Emirates and Scotland.

Afghanistan did all the early running after opting to bat as it posted a competitive 161 for 7 on the back of a 36-ball 56 from Nawroz Mangal, who was ably assisted by Mohammad Shahzad (20), Asghar Stanikzai (29) and Samiullah Shenwari (21). Craig Williams is a very good player and so is Stephen Baard and of course Gerrie Snyman so they’re not a team to be taken lightly. JJ Atkinson scored 47 and Nizakat Khan scored 26 runs. But on the penultimate ball of the match, the captain Tanwir Afzal was run out, and no runs were given: the full toss had the batsman mistiming the ball straight to the bowler, and there was no time to complete a single. “I was giving Chapman the strike because he was hitting the ball quite well”.

Netherlands’ victory against Namibia wasn’t so dramatic, but this match was also tight. We know Namibia is a risky batting side. This will be their second appearance at the world event. And although Bernard Scholtz, the offspinner, required a few wickets to ding Netherlands’ cost, …

Chasing a moderate total of 136, Netherlands lost Wesley Barresi in the first ball of the innings, caught behind. Scholtz struck three sixes and a four in his 23-ball 37 to help his team end up with a run-rate of about seven an over. But the way we’ve conducted ourselves in the last two games to get the two wins has been outstanding.