Cricket News: Major surprises could emerge from countries playing in the T20 World Cup qualifier

Qualifier A for T20 World Cup 2022 occurred in February of this year in Oman. Among the eight teams from Qualifier A, Ireland and USA have fixed their spots for Australia 2022. Mirroring the 'A' Qualifier, the 'B' Qualifier began in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, on 11th July 2022. The final two spots for this year's tournament are now up for grabs, and eight teams will hit the ground in a week-long tournament. The eight teams are divided into two groups, from which the top two teams will progress from the group phase to the semi-finals. This is how the team who potentially can qualify performed in their last match on 12th July.

GROUP A

The USA is currently leading Group A with 4 points and an NRR of 3.857. They defeated Singapore by 132 runs after posting a total of 201 runs and bundling the opposition for mere 69 runs in 15.2 overs. Batting first, Steven Taylor and Monank Patel's openers gave a stable start to the innings. Steven Taylor's 58, followed by Jaskaran Malhotra's 58 runs in the middle, powered the innings of the USA to post a mammoth total of 201. While chasing the target, Singapore fell short of stable partnership at any level. Apart from Anantha Krishna's 21, no other player could score 20-plus runs. Saurabh Netravalkar's five-wicket haul led to the catastrophic fall of all players for 69 runs. 

Zimbabwe edged in a clash against Jersey in the other fixture to win by 23 runs. With this win, Zimbabwe sits below the USA with 4 points and an NRR of 3.350. Batting first, Zimbabwe lost both its openers early. Sean Williams, coming at number 3, scored 57 runs, whereas a 13-ball 29 runs cameo from Luke Jongwe played a crucial role in taking the team to a respectable total of 146 at a loss of 8 wickets. In response, Jersey got off to a good start owing to opener Harrison Carlyon's 45 runs, but the middle order collapsed to Ryan Burl's stunning bowling. Benjamin Ward looked to pull towards the end by fetching 35 off 20 but failed to capitalize.

GROUP B

Papua New Guinea registered their first win by grabbing an 8 -wicket win over Uganda while chasing the target of 161 set by the latter. Uganda's Simon Ssesazi's 78 and Riazat Ali Shah's 48 helped the team tick a score of 160 on the scoreboard. Despite posting a decent total, bowlers failed to defend this target as PNG's opener skipper Assad Vala remained unbeaten at 93 alongside Sese Bau's unbeaten 41 to seal the clinical win for the team.

The Netherlands defeated Hong Kong by seven wickets to top the Group B table. They are one of the favorites to be one of the qualifiers. Hong Kong opener Nizakat Khan scored 60 off 55 while the remaining team kneeled to Netherlands bowlers, especially Logan van Beek who returned with figures of 4/27. The opener failed to get a stable partnership, because of which the team got all out for 116 runs. As the total was difficult to defend, the Netherlands chased it down in 13.2 overs with seven wickets remaining. Max O'Dowd was the leading run-scorer with 45 runs.  

USA and Netherlands are the favorites to qualify for the World Cup. The Netherlands has a history of getting to the tournament, while the USA is an emerging country in the cricket world.