UAE and Ireland qualify while Bahrain surprise, Nepal stumble and Oman disappoint.
Pre-tournament favourites Ireland and United Arab Emirates (UAE) reached the finals of the first Global 2022 T20 World Cup Qualifier to secure their places in this year’s T20 World Cup. The journey to Australia was far from smooth sailing however, with both teams tottering on the brink of elimination before timely comebacks rescued them from an embarrassing early exit. With the tournament now done and dusted, here are 6 talking points from Qualifier A.
Ireland gets the job done despite a misfiring Stirling
Pre-tournament, Ireland’s batting had been roundly criticised for being overly reliant on Paul Stirling and Andrew Balbirnie. Furthermore, with Kevin O’Brien’s omission from the team there were real concerns about how the inexperienced middle order would cope. The opening loss against UAE only served to heighten those fears; and while they haven’t been entirely laid to rest, the middle order showed enough mettle to point towards an encouraging future.
For Ireland, nobody had a standout tournament with the bat. Both Stirling and Balbirnie were well below par, but useful and timely contributions from Harry Tector and Gareth Delany kept the team afloat. Going forward, Ireland will hope for more consistent returns from the former duo alongside Curtis Campher and Lorcan Tucker, to build a solid platform from which to launch in the death overs.
On the other hand, the bowling unit largely operated as a cohesive unit. Seamers Craig Young and Josh Little were excellent; leading the way with 8 wickets at 13.37 and 7 wickets at 16.71 respectively. In the all-rounder stakes, Andy McBrine upstaged Simi Singh easily. The Donemana leg spinner regularly put a brake on scoring in the middle overs, whilst also contributing a vital 36 runs with the bat in Ireland’s semi-final victory against Oman. McBrine finished the tournament with 6 wickets at an economy rate of 5.57 and 51 runs at 25.5.
Are we entering a golden age of UAE Cricket?
97* (67), 40 (29), 84* (52), 46 (23) and 0 (2)
These are the scores that UAE’s youngest squad member, 19-year-old wicket-keeper/batter Vriitya Aravind posted in the tournament. Drafted into the national team in December 2019, Aravind carried UAE’s batting on his young shoulders with some sensational displays of stroke making and power hitting. Without his contributions, UAE would have failed to qualify for this year’s T20 World Cup.
He played match-winning innings against Ireland and Nepal, while his 84 not out against Bahrain ensured that UAE got over the 158 runs required to seal qualification on net run rate, despite the shock loss. Aravind’s success story is a testament to the strength of UAE’s youth pathway system which has also produced other home-grown youngsters like 21-year-old leg spinner Karthik Meiyappan and 19-year-old Alishan Sharafu.
And there are more talented young cricketers coming up through the ranks. UAE’s U-19 team performed brilliantly at the recently concluded World Cup in the Caribbean, defeating full members West Indies and Ireland en route to a Plate Final victory and 9th placed finish. Watch out for the likes of Dhruv Parashar and Jash Giyanani to make the transition to the senior squad in a couple of years’ time. The future shines bright for UAE cricket!
The surprise packages of the tournament — Bahrain!
Undoubtedly the surprise packages of the tournament, 34th ranked Bahrain came agonizingly close to ousting pre-tournament favourites UAE from the qualifier. Needing to defend 12 in the last over to nab a semi-final berth on NRR, Shahid Mahmood lost his lengths completely and was pummeled for 24 runs. Nevertheless, the Bahrainis depart their debut appearance at a global qualifier with heads held high. They were highly competitive in all their fixtures and their upset two run victory over UAE, an opponent ranked 22 places higher, was an Associate cricket upset for the ages.
Before the qualifier, Bahrain’s cricket scene had been shrouded in mystery with lots of unknowns. But the streamed fixtures revealed the presence of some genuine talent in their squad. With his ultra-slow, loopy leg spinners Junaid Aziz made life difficult for batters and finished as the second highest wicket taker. Also, all-rounder Sarfaraz Ali and ex-Karnataka batter David Mathias put in a number of impressive performances. If the Bahrainis can maintain their consistency, they will be serious contenders in the Asian region and with more Associate slots available at future T20 World Cups, stand better placed to qualify for the main event.
Meanwhile other debutants such as Germany and Philippines had a tough time at the tournament, but will hopefully learn some valuable lessons from the experience. Canada also struggled with many of their star players missing but put in a match winning effort against Bahrain in a playoff game to ultimately finish 5th in the overall tournament standings. Western Australia born opening batter Matthew Spoors impressed compiling a century and half-century in his international debut tournament for Canada.
Oman desperately needs an injection of fresh faces
From 2021 T20 World Cup co-hosts and participants to not even qualifying for this year’s edition, it’s been quite a comedown for Omani cricket in a short period of time. Missing out will particularly sting more, given the Omanis had the advantage of playing in home conditions at Al Amerat. While the bowling unit consisting of Bilal Khan, Kaleemullah, Fayyaz Butt and Khawar Ali did a marvellous job, it was the batting that let them down in key moments. They failed to chase down 117 against Nepal and also collapsed in a heap against Ireland, going from 68/2 to 109 all out.
For Oman, the squad selected for the Qualifier was largely the same from last year’s World Cup. But its ageing nature (average age of 33) represents a major problem for the Gulf nation. Star players such as Bilal, Kaleemullah, Zeeshan Maqsood and Jatinder Singh are all in their early 30’s, whilst many others are of similar age or even older.
The team desperately requires an injection of fresh faces and young talent. If the transition is not started now, Oman risk falling down the Associate T20 ladder when the veterans start retiring. As this Qualifier has shown, the Asian region is extremely strong and Associates there cannot afford to rest on their laurels with the likes of Bahrain, Singapore, Qatar, Kuwait and Malaysia also not too far behind.
Nepal continues to disappoint in crunch games
For Nepal, it was another T20 Qualifier that ended in crushing disappointment. The Himalayan country’s passionate fan base is infectious and while it is easy to get carried away by the vociferous support on social media, it fails to hide the fact that Nepal continues to lose in crunch games. And to date, the 2014 T20 World Cup remains their only appearance at a major ICC event.
This time around, Nepal did everything right by winning all their group games. The bowling was disciplined and penetrative led by captain Sandeep Lamichhane, who finished as the tournament’s highest wicket taker with 12 wickets at an astonishing average of 6.50. He was ably supported by the medium pace trio of Abinash Bohara, Kamal Singh Airee and Jitendra Mukhiya. Batters Kushal Bhurtel and Dipendra Singh Airee also had great tournaments, regularly putting up challenging totals or chasing down targets with ease.
But once again, they lost when it really mattered in the must win semi-final game against UAE. It continues a worrying trend for Nepal; they lost in the Asian Regional Finals in 2019 and failed to qualify for the 2016 T20 World Cup by finishing bottom of Group A in the 2015 Global Qualifiers. With T20 World Cups expanding to 20 teams from 2024, let’s hope that Nepal break their hoodoo and add to their solitary appearance at an ICC World Cup event.
