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DELIVERING WORLD-CLASS EVENTS // ICC WORLD CRICKET LEAGUE DIVISION 2
ICC WORLD CRICKET LEAGUE DIVISION 2
The ICC Men’s World Cricket League provided teams with excellent competition, Nepal emerging as the story of the February (Division 2) tournament in Namibia, with a thrilling last-gasp win that sent them to the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier.
BELOW: Nepal celebrated some last gasp wins in the tournament to secure a position in the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier.
OPPOSITE BELOW: The UAE are crowned champions of the ICC World Cricket League Division 2.
The ICC Men’s World Cricket League, with its different divisions, has emerged as an important tournament for the Associate Members, providing regular playing opportunities in the 50-over format.
The latest round of the ICC WCL Division Two, where teams were battling it out for two ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2018 positions, provided followers with quite a bit of excitement, with the boys from Nepal, especially, keeping viewers on tenterhooks with their sequence of last-gasp wins.
With Canada, Kenya, Namibia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – all former ICC Cricket World Cup participants – and two exciting young teams in Nepal and Oman in the fray, high-quality cricket was expected. Meeting such expectations, the teams put up a brilliant show across Windhoek.
The UAE beat Kenya first up but were beaten by Canada. Oman lost to Canada but beat Nepal. Namibia beat Oman, as did the UAE, and it started to get interesting from the very beginning.
Though Kenya fell out of the race early and Oman lost one game too many, all of Namibia, Canada, Nepal and the UAE stayed in the race for a spot in the final, which in turn meant a place in the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2018.
If that wasn’t enough, Nepal made a habit of taking games to the end: they beat Namibia by one wicket with four balls left in the game and then got the better of both Kenya and Canada – the latter a must-win game for both sides – off the last ball, scraping home by three wickets and one wicket respectively. The last result knocked Canada out, and with the UAE beating Oman and Namibia, it was Nepal v UAE in the final.
The UAE, the more experienced outfit, won the title-round game by the narrow margin of seven runs, but both teams went into the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2018. Canada finished third after getting the better of Namibia, while Oman topped Kenya in the fifth-place playoff.
The story of the tournament, though, was Nepal. They brought the tournament under the spotlight after a miraculous win over Canada in their last league game. Canada, batting first, rode on Srimantha Wijeratne’s 103 to put up 194 for eight. Nepal’s chase looked dead in the water when they were reduced to 144 for nine in 42.1 overs.
The entry of Karan KC at No.10 and Sandeep Lamichhane at No.11, however, brought about a rollicking stand of 51 runs to change the script. It came down to 21 runs off 12 balls, and after a six and a four from Karan, the equation was reduced to eight runs from six balls. There were four dot balls thereafter, making it eight from two. A six followed, then a wide, and finally a scrambled single for victory. As the Nepal players celebrated, the excitement on social media reached fever pitch.
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