MUSCAT: United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Ireland qualified for the ICC T20 World Cup Australia 2022 after thumping wins over Nepal and Oman in the semifinals of the Qualifiers here on Tuesday.
At OCA ground 2, hosts Oman suffered a 56-run defeat against Ireland, while the UAE beat Nepal by 68 runs at OCA ground 1.
Simi Singh bowled a brilliant spell of 3.3 overs taking 3-20 while Joshua Little, Andy McBrine and Craig Young took two wickets each.
Gareth Delany (47) was the top-scorer for Ireland, while Harry Tector (35) and Andy McBrine (36) hit vital runs.
In the other match, UAE captain Ahmad Raza took 5-19 in his four overs to lead a sensational bowling effort against Nepal. Junaid Siddique bagged 3 for 27.
UAE chose to bat and posted 175-7 in 20 overs.
Opener Mohammad Waseem scored 70 runs from 48 balls studded with four boundaries and sixers each.
19-year-old talent Vriitya Aravind belted 46 (23 balls, 5x4, 3x6) before being bowled by Nepal captain Sandeep Lamichhane.
Jitendra Mukhiya (3-35) and Abinash Bohara (3-46) were among the wickets for Nepal.
SENSATIONAL SIMI
Oman lost first wicket at 13 runs when Kashyap Prajapati skied up a shot off Mark Adair in the third over to be caught by Craig Young at short fine leg.
Simi Singh struck in his very first ball in the sixth over and bagged the big wicket of Jatinder Singh (7) trapped leg before with the score at 28-2.
Oman suffered twin blows in the 11th over by left-arm seamer Joshua Little. Both Shoaib Khan (30 from 22 balls) and new batsman Khurram Nawaz (0) edged their shots to wicketkeeper Lorcan Tucker in similar fashion as Oman fell to 68-4.
Simi Singh struck again in the 14th over when he trapped Khawar Ali (10) leg-before with a yorker after the batsman attempted a reverse sweep with the score at 84-5.
Naseem Khushi got out next after his sloppy pull was caught by McBrine who made the attempt interesting by juggling the ball.
Stuart Young grabbed the prize wicket for Zeeshan Maqsood next ball when the Oman captain’s late cut rested in the hands of Simi Singh at backward point. Oman slumped to 87-7 at this point from 14.4 overs.
The tail-enders could not make much of it as Oman’s campaign ended at 109 in 18.3 overs.
Earlier, Oman won the toss and elected to bowl first.
Oman got the first wicket with Ireland score at 19.
Bilal Khan’s good length ball pitching outside legside was driven by Ireland captain Andrew Balbirnie (12) only to be caught by Khurram Nawas in the third over.
Star batsman Paul Stirling followed suit immediately, with Bilal striking the second blow in the same over when Stirling’s shot ended at the hands of Khawar Ali.
Ireland reached 50-2 in the sixth over with Delany and Tector in the crease.
Khawar Ali came into act in the 10th over as Ireland reached 77 for 2.
Explosive batsman Delany changed gear in the 11th over bowled by Zeeshan. The right-hander hit three back-to-back sixers as Ireland raced to 96-2 after fetching 19 from the over.
Ireland reached 100 in the next over as Khawar Ali gave only 3 runs.
Kaleemullah was brought back next over and the lanky bowler proved his worth with twin strikes in the over.
BRIEF SCORES
At OCA Ground 1: UAE 175-7 in 20 overs (Muhammad Waseem 70, Vriitya Aravind 46; Jitendra Mukhiya 3-35, Abinash Bohara 3-46) beat Nepal 107 all out in 18.4 overs (Dipendra Singh Airee 38; Ahmad Raza 5-19, Junaid Siddique 3-27)
At OCA Ground 2: Ireland 165-7 in 20 overs (Gareth Delany 47; Bilal Khan 3-23) beat Oman 109 all out in 18.3 overs (Shoaib Khan 30; Simi Singh 3-20).
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