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2007 World Cuppers Bermuda scrape through to Super Sixes
26 Feb, 2024
Bermuda, who played the 2007 World Cup, and Vanuatu finished at the bottom of their respective points tables but managed to make the Super Sixes stage of the ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League Play-off being played in Malaysia. Besides the two, Italy, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Tanzania also advanced to the Super Sixes stage
Bermuda, who played the 2007 Cricket World Cup, and Vanuatu just about managed to stay in the ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League Play-off 2024 even though they finished at the bottom of the Group A and Group B respectively in the tournament being played in Malaysian cities of Bangi and Kuala Lumpur.
Italy topped Group A in the one-day competition with List A status, with four points from two wins out of three matches while Kuwait finished second with the same record. However, Italy’s superior net run rate of +0.574 kept them ahead of Kuwait who had +0.292. Saudi Arabia were third with one win and two points from three games, the same as Bermuda but the west Asian nation was ahead due to superior net run rate. The Saudis had a net run rate of +0.298 while Bermuda had a net run rate of -1.108.
However, the Bermudans made it to Super Sixes due to their win over Saudi Arabia.
Bahrain and Tanzania occupied the top two places in Group B with four points each in three games that came through two wins. The tiny Arab nation’s NRR was marginally better at +0.713 which put them above the African nation who had +0.633.
Malaysia and Vanuatu occupied the third and fourth positions respectively with two points in three games each. However, Malaysia’s NRR was better by a whisker’s breadth at -0.742 than Vanuatu, who had -0.791. But Vanuata, courtesy their win over Malaysia went ahead to Super Sixes on better head-to-head.
They also need to thank Tanzania for their surprise win over favourites Bahrain as that avoided a three-way tie for the second place, where an inferior NRR would have cost them a place and allowed Tanzania and Malaysia to go through and render head-to-head meaningless.
This means that Italy, Kuwait, Bermuda, Bahrain, Tanzania and Vanuatu will fight in the Super Sixes to earn the final four places in the 2027 Cricket World Cup Challenge League, a 12-team tournament which is part of the 2027 Cricket World Cup qualification process.
Jersey, Papua New Guinea, Denmark, Hong Kong, Kenya, Qatar, Singapore and Uganda are the other teams that have already qualified for the 2027 Cricket World Cup Challenge League.
The Super Sixes stage of the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League Play-off 2024, start from February 28, 2024, that is, Wednesday.