Barras make WC qualifier

Sports

THE International Cricket Council (ICC) announced yesterday that Papua New Guinea and the Netherlands have booked their spots to the 2018 ICC Cricket World Cup qualifier.
With one round to go in the ICC World Cricket League Championship, the Netherlands and the Hebou PNG Barramundis advanced to the World Cup Qualifier, after Hong Kong beat Nepal in the final series of round six matches.
Hong Kong’s victory over Nepal in their first match and the abandonment due to rain in the second means no team can close the gap on the Netherlands and PNG, who become the first two teams from the ICC World Cricket League Championship to confirm their places at the qualifier.
Hong Kong will battle it out with Scotland and Kenya in round seven of the WCLC for the final two qualification positions for CWCQ 2018 in Zimbabwe next March.
The Barramundis drew their WCLC round 6 series 1-1 against Scotland in Port Moresby earlier this month.
In the first match, Scotland defeated PNG by 101 runs before the Barramundis bounced back to win the second match by five wickets.
After round six, Netherlands lead the WCLC standings on 18 points while the Barramundis are in second place on 16 points.
Those who have not qualified will go into ICC World Cricket league division 2 competition which includes Nepal, Namibia and the United Arab Emirates and Canada and Oman who have qualified from ICC World Cricket League Division 3 for the six-team tournament.
Round seven fixtures take place in the UAE from Dec 6-8.
Positions will be important as the winner of the ICC World Cricket League Championship will take the 13th position in the recently announced One Day International League.
ICC World Cricket League Championship standings:
Teams             P   W   L  D    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
UAE          12   3       9   0    0      6