Timm van der Gugten and his Netherlands teammates are one step closer to the 2019 Cricket World Cup after booking their place alongside Papua New Guinea to the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier (CWCQ) 2018.
There's still one round to go in the ICC World Cricket League Championship (WCLC), but after Hong Kong defeated Nepal in the final series of round six matches, no team can close the gap on Netherlands and PNG who become the first two teams from the ICC World Cricket League Championship to confirm their places in the CWCQ.
Hong Kong will now battle it out with Scotland and Kenya in round seven of the WCLC for the final two qualification positions for CWCQ 2018 in Zimbabwe in March 2018.
Those who have not qualified will go into ICC World Cricket League Division 2 2018 this includes Nepal, Namibia and the UAE from the WCLC and Canada and Oman who have qualified from ICC World Cricket League Division 3 for the six-team tournament.
Batting first Hong Kong’s opener James Atkinson (76) put on the majority of runs, as the leg spinner Sandeep Lamichhane (3-48) and left arm-spinner Basant Regmi (2-33) did the damage to reduce Hong Kong to 119 runs for seven wickets. Tanwir Afzal hit an unbeaten 38 runs from 42 balls leading Hong Kong to a total of 194 runs all out from 50 overs.
Chasing the modest target, three of Nepal’s batsmen got into the 20s, but could not convert them to big scores. Paras Khadka, the captain, top scored with 26 runs from 46 balls, Gyanendra Malla (21) and Aarif Sheikh (23) gave Nepal hope. However, Ehsan Khan, the Hong Kong off-spinner, led the way with five wickets for 17 runs. Nepal were bowled out for 111 runs in 34.5 overs and victory was assured for Hong Kong by 83 runs.
Round seven fixtures take place in the United Arab Emirates on 6 and 8 December 2017. Positions will be important as the winner of the ICC World Cricket League Championship will take the 13th position in the recently announced ODI League.
ICC World Cricket League Championship standings:
|
Teams
|
Mat
|
Won
|
Lost
|
Tied
|
N/R
|
Pts
|
|
Netherlands
|
12
|
8
|
2
|
0
|
2
|
18
|
|
PNG
|
12
|
8
|
4
|
0
|
0
|
16
|
|
Scotland
|
12
|
6
|
3
|
0
|
3
|
15
|
|
Hong Kong
|
12
|
6
|
4
|
0
|
2
|
14
|
|
Kenya
|
12
|
6
|
6
|
0
|
0
|
12
|
|
Nepal
|
12
|
4
|
7
|
0
|
1
|
9
|
|
Namibia
|
12
|
3
|
9
|
0
|
0
|
6
|
|
United Arab Emirates
|
12
|
3
|
9
|
0
|
0
|
6
|