PNG book spot in World Cup

– Papua New Guinea will make their first appearance at a World Cup after beating Kenya in Dubai on Sunday to book their place at next year’s T20 World Cup.

PNG beat Kenya by 45 runs at Dubai International Stadium but had to wait for the result of the Netherlands’ game against Scotland before they could celebrate their qualification for the tournament in Australia next year.

The Dutch won by four wickets but failed to knock off the 131 they needed for victory in 12.3 overs which meant PNG topped the group with a higher net run rate.

“I am feeling a little emotional,” PNG’s Australian coach Joe Dawes (above) told the ICC. “For them to achieve this is pretty special.”

The former Queensland fast bowler said planning could wait.

“We are just going to enjoy the moment.”

PNG were facing disaster as they slipped to 19/6 in four overs but Norman Vanua led the recovery, clubbing 54 from 48 balls and sharing a seventh wicket partnership of 77 with Ses Bau.

Kenya needed to reach the target of 118 in 12 overs to have any chance of qualifying for the playoffs but the batsmen were unable to get out of first gear.

Opener Irfan Karim was the only batsman to hit a boundary and top-scored with 29 as Kenya slid to 73 all out. Nosaina Pokana was the most successful of the PNG bowlers with 3/21.

Ireland also made sure of a spot in Australia courtesy of results elsewhere going in their favour, with Jersey beating Oman on the final day of group-stage action.

Jersey made 141/7 and then limited Oman to 127/9 to win by 14 runs.

Both PNG and Ireland will also progress to the semifinals of the ongoing qualifying tournament, where they play the winners of the two semifinal play-offs.

The first of those will see Netherlands, who finished second in Group A, face UAE as the thirdranked team in Group B. The winner will face Ireland and will also qualify for the World Cup.

The other semifinal play-off will see Namibia face Oman, after the two finished third in Group A and second in Group B respectively. PNG await the victors, who will also reach the finals in Australia.

Scotland and Hong Kong, who finished fourth in their respective groups, will now take part in the fi fth-place play-off semifinals.

There they will face the beaten side in each of the semifinal play-offs, with the winner in each match also qualifying for the T20 World Cup. – AFP