By Mikey Godsmark
Whatever the ICC calls them, tomorrow will see the start of
the World T20 Qualifiers. What! I hear you say, the qualifiers were last summer
in Ireland and Scotland; well they were the first qualifying stage if anything.
You cannot call these two groups anything but qualifiers when associate nations
are literally forced into them and only two FMs could go into them at any one
time. I mean even if an associate nation was ranked number one in the world for
T20s they would still go into the qualifier solely because they haven’t been
playing cricket for long enough to make the ICC happy, or (even more
importantly) won’t bring in the TV revenue.
On top of this, only one team will actually go through to
the Super 10 stage from each group. ONE TEAM. All it takes is one slip up from
any side and they’re all but out and relying on a miracle to save them. I guess
there’s too much of a risk of the associates lowering the quality in the main
round like would never happen in any other sport, oh wait. Anyway, rant over;
the cricket in these matches will be high quality, exciting and very
unpredictable
Hong Kong v
Zimbabwe
Hong Kong (pictured) debuted at the World T20 in Bangladesh two years
ago and had a bizarre tournament. In their first match they were bowled out for
69 by Nepal and then lost to Afghanistan quite comfortably. When it looked like
they were about to go home empty handed they then preceded to rip through the
host nation’s batting attack and, after a little wobble, they won by two
wickets with two balls in hand. They will be hoping for similar heroics
tomorrow.
Zimbabwe should in theory be the favourites for the group
but could conceivably come last with all four teams in Group A having something
to offer. The Full Member has been in poor form recently with a string of
limited overs series losses against Afghanistan. Elton Chigumbura will hope to
use his experience in T20 franchise leagues to score quickly against Hong Kong
bowlers who don’t get the opportunity for such a high level. However, they are
a consistent side who know that if they bowl well there’s every chance of an
upset.
Verdict:
Narrow Hong Kong Win
Afghanistan
v Scotland
Scotland caused a bit of a surprise when they and the
Netherlands ran out joint winners of the official qualifiers in the summer.
Scotland have not played in a World T20 since 2009 and have not won a match as
of yet. Their batting will be led by Kyle Coetzer with Matt Machan also coming
into the tournament in fine form. The biggest question to Scotland is whether
they will be able to adjust to the sub-continental conditions with seam bowling
making up the majority of their attack.
The conditions shouldn’t pose much of a problem to the
undisputed leader of associate limited overs cricket: Afghanistan. Last year,
they were the first ever associate to beat a full member in the form of
Zimbabwe in a bilateral series. Led in the batting department by the flamboyant
Mohammad Shahzad who hit a stunning 118 in a recent T20I against Zimbabwe, with
the bat they have both an explosion and implosion not too far away. Their
bowling is also an unknown quantity. They will hope that Dawlat Zadran will
take consistent wickets but their strike bowler will be the maverick Hamid
Hassan (pictured), who, if he can stay fit, will bowl 90mph deliveries that no other
bowler can match.
Verdict: Reasonably Comfortable Afghanistan Win
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