Cricket News: Zimbabwe, Netherlands qualify for T20 World Cup 2022

Bulawayo: By winning their respective semifinal qualifying event matches on Friday in Bulawayo, hosts Zimbabwe and the Netherlands filled the remaining two spots for the Twenty20 World Cup in Australia.

After scoring 199-5 in 20 overs, Zimbabwe defeated Papua New Guinea by 27 runs after limiting their opponents to 172-8.

By a margin of seven wickets, the Netherlands defeated the USA. The Netherlands responded to an American total of 138 in 19.4 overs by scoring 139-3 with six balls remaining.

From October 16 to November 13 there will be a 16-team tournament, and Australia will defend the championship they won in the UAE in 2017.

Zimbabwe, who had won the toss and chosen to bat, performed well, with six of its batters, led by Wesley Madhevere, each getting at least 22 runs.

Madhevere scored the game's highest total of 42 runs, including five fours, and he and skipper Craig Ervine contributed 63 runs for the second wicket.

With Tony Ura in the lineup, Papua New Guinea, which advanced to the semifinals by virtue of net run rate despite winning only one of their three group matches, came very close to matching Zimbabwe's run rate throughout the majority of the innings.

However, the island nation lost steam when Ura faltered off the final ball of the 14th after scoring 66, including five sixes and four fours from 35 balls.

Blessing The most effective Zimbabwean bowler, Muzarabani, claimed two wickets for 24 runs in four overs.

Zimbabwe will make their fifth appearance at the T20 finals after hiring former great batsman Dave Houghton as coach just before the competition.

Steven Taylor, the outstanding hitter for the USA during the group stage, contributed 26 while skipper Monank Patel led the team with 32 points in the second semi-final.

Bas de Leede and Paul van Meekeren each grabbed two wickets, while Fred Klaassen, who on Thursday claimed five wickets against Uganda, had a dismal four-over spell of 0-40.

De Leede, who had already made an impression with the ball, outperformed himself with the bat, scoring an undefeated 91 that included three sixes and nine fours.

With a run-per-ball average of 26, captain and wicketkeeper Scott Edwards helped the Netherlands qualify for the T20 World Cup for the fourth time running.

In the placement play-offs, Singapore, the only team to yet in Bulawayo without a victory, was defeated by Hong Kong and Uganda, respectively.