Afghanistan and Uganda seal place in ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier ahead of Papua New Guinea

ICC Media Release

31 January 2009

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Afghanistan and Uganda will play in April's ICC Cricket World Cup qualifiers after finishing ahead of Papua New Guinea on net run rate. Cayman Islands and Argentina are relegated to Division 4.

Afghanistan and Uganda achieved a place in the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier after recording victories in Buenos Aires on Saturday.

Skipper Narooz Mangal inspired a brilliant win by 82 runs over Cayman Islands to hand Afghanistan the Division 3 title, following on from its successive title wins in Jersey in Division 5 and Tanzania in Division 4.

And Uganda managed to sneak into a top two position in the final standings after bowling out Argentina for 83 all out, achieving a significant enough improvement in its net run rate to finish ahead of Papua New Guinea, who missed out on a top two finish at the event despite having lost only one group game in the competition.

It had Kenneth Kamyuka, who was named Player of the Tournament, to thank for yet another fantastic individual display after a belligerent innings of 38 and three wickets transformed the low-scoring match.

Afghanistan skipper Narooz Mangal was proud of his side and believes that it is capable of finishing in the top four at the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier.

“Today is a very happy day for me as we have won the Division 3 tournament and have qualified for the World Cup Qualifier. It is a very big day in the history of Afganistan cricket,” said Narooz.

“It will be very hard work in South Africa and we will be playing against some very difficult teams but we are all very happy.

“It was very special to get the Man of the Match Award as my innings was very important for my team but all the team played well.

“I think if we all work very hard in the next few months we have a very good chance of making it to the Cricket World Cup in 2011.”

The top-order Afghan batting once again failed to score the runs expected at this level with Karim Khan and Ahmad Shah both falling early on to leave Afghanistan at 27-2.

A 69-run partnership for the third wicket between Shafiqullah Shafaq (39) and skipper Narooz Mangal then changed the balance of the game, as Afghanistan took advantage of some extremely poor fielding Cayman Islands fielding.

Mangal (70), restored to the side after his two-match ban earlier in the event, looked in excellent form as he played one of the best innings of the event, in what has been a low-scoring tournament, scoring seven fours in his 89-ball batting cameo.

Asghar Stanikzai (66 not out) then took control with a brilliantly timed innings, off just 62 balls, completing the innings in style with a six over long-on to give Afghanistan the highest score of the tournament with 230-8 off 50 overs.

In reply, a double strike from Mohammad Nabi in the space of one over left Cayman Islands in all kinds of trouble on 41-3, and he was to take two further wickets to leave him with outstanding figures of 4-23.

Hamid Hassan then came on and bowled his best spell of the tournament to date, mixing some aggressive short-pitched bowling with some good straight bowling, including his trademark yorker.

The defeat means Cayman Islands joins Argentina in being relegated to the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 4, which will be played in 2010.

Afghanistan was joined in the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier by Uganda who achieved an outstanding victory over Argentina.

Uganda got off to a terrible start and looked in danger of posting of a tiny total against Argentina, as it collapsed to 46-5.

Indeed were it for not for the heroics of Kamyuka, who has saved his team throughout the week with both bat and ball, the African side would have struggled to reach three figures.

But the hard-hitting ninth-wicket stand of 59 between Kamyuka (38) and Danniel Ruyange 35 helped transform the game and set an imposing target of 183 to win.

It was again to be Kamyuka (3-26) who starred with the ball as only opener Matias Paterlini (26) put up any resistance as the hosts crumbled to 83 all out and a fifth consecutive defeat.

The fixtures for the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier in South Africa between 1-19 April will be released shortly. The top four sides at that event qualify for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, while a top six place will secure ODI status for the next four years.