KATHMANDU: Scotland and Oman have already confirmed their places in the Cricket World Cup League 2 to play in the ICC World Cup Qualifier, while four countries are in the race to grab the final spot.
Namibia concluded its Division 2 campaign with a victory in Dubai on Friday, ending a string of five losses. Namibia, which lost all four matches in Nepal tri-series, has amassed 39 points from 36 matches. Scotland and Oman have 50 and 44 points, respectively.
In the seven-nation league, UAE, Nepal, and PNG each have eight games remaining. These teams are playing against each other in Dubai this week before flying to Nepal in the second week of March for their final series.
UAE and Nepal have 29 points and 26 points, respectively, while PNG has five with two victories and a draw.
ODI status at stake
Nepal meets PNG in its first match of the tri-series in Dubai on February 28 (Monday). It will then play UAE on Thursday, PNG on Friday, and UAE on Sunday.
All seven teams meet each other six times in the league. Nepal has played against UAE and PNG twice. It is playing the remaining four matches each against PNG and UAE in UAE and Nepal.
In its first two matches against UAE in March last year, Nepal coached by Pubuddu Dassanayake suffered defeats of 48 and 99 runs. It, however, won both its matches against PNG.
Nepal, now under Monty Desai, defeated champion Scotland and third-placed Namibia twice in the home series before flying to Dubai. The series clean sweep has raised hope that Nepal will be able to retain the ODI status.
Nepal needs to finish at least fifth on the table to retain ODI status. This is what Nepal is looking for at the moment. For that, Nepal needs to win five of its eight remaining matches.
It can finish above Namibia by winning seven of the eight matches. It may look ambitious, but the Nepali team is excited given the good run of form and the home matches.
World Cup Qualifier
India is hosting the ICC Cricket World Cup in October-November. Ten teams will play in the World Cup. The top seven nations in the Super League – New Zealand, India, England, Pakistan, Australia, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan – will automatically qualify for the World Cup. Teams from 8th to 13th position – West Indies, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Ireland, Zimbabwe, and the Netherlands – will have to play qualifiers. As hosts, India is automatically selected for the World Cup, so the 8th placed team won’t have to play the qualifier. This means the remaining five teams of the Super League will play the qualifier with three teams selected from Division 2. The top two teams of the qualifiers will be selected for the World Cup.
Failure to grab third spot
If Nepal fails to grab the third position in Division 2, it will still get the opportunity to play in the World Cup qualifier. The bottom four teams will get the opportunity to play in the ‘qualifier playoff,’ which also includes winners of the Challenge Cup. Canada from Group A and Jersey from Group B have already qualified for the playoff qualifier.
