Oman need 14 off the last over and the first ball is a no-ball that goes for 4 !

Game on

and Oman complete an unexpected victory with an awful final over culminating in 4 byes off a no-ball

5-1-4-1-W-5

The wicket that fell wasn't out either !

Geez.......that was a shocking last over !

Wasn't that Boyd Rankin playing for England a few months ago ?

Looks like David Warner will be batting at 5 in the T20 WC

Impressive victory for Australia in SA

Just saw the the climax of the Ireland game

How did they lose that ?

Scotland lose again and won't qualify now

I quite like this format of having the smaller countries playing a pre-tournament qualifying round but still being part of the overall tournament.......gives the smaller countries a stage, ensures that 2 of them get through but doesn't clutter up the main tournament with lots of meaningless games

But I did hear one of the commentators say that the Afghans are now rated at number 9 in the world T20 rankings so they should be favourites over Zimbabwe......they play each other in the morning match on Saturday which should be the decider for that group

The other group is more open after that win for Oman but Bangladesh should qualify on form

Wish Scotland would learn the lesson for chasing down totals when it's about 1.5 runs/ball. Single, two, single, two and so on is all you need, don't wander off to leg and try to hit...stay put, nurdle or play straight and run...or if the balls down the leg side it's a one wide and another ball, especially if the ball's not coming on to the bat.

Often wonder how Brearley, Boycott and Tavare would approach a run-chase in a 20/20 though?!

i actually like this sort of decision by australia

they are basically saying these are our 5 best batsmen for this format and we dont care what number they would usually bat

Wouldn't be certain of beating Afghanistan in these conditions.

Hope we prepare properly

We do have form when it comes to losing to underdogs....

england v afghanistan , not sure who the underdogs would be

that's a fair point..

Been able to watch the last couple of days of T20 action, 1 thing though, is it just me or is anybody else getting fed up with that bloody awful techno Music they play when a wicket falls or stop in play!..

Yes! It's absurd in an empty ground!! Hopefully the noise from the crowds in the bigger games drowns it out. Also getting annoyed by the repetitive ads on Sky - seems to be the same two or three all the time. And I've gone off dogs for life now.....

Meanwhile, damp squib today; hoping Holland could beat Oman by plenty and an Ireland win to set up a great last day; if Holland don't get on they are eliminated by my maths.

Afghanistan would have played three competitive games and England none, so there's a shout for AFG having a slight advantage there

Think England have enough big hitters all the way down not to be a force in the competition. But, then again, so do the likes of NZ, AUS......

the empty grounds haven't been helped by some screwups in the ticket sales

people turning up at the stadium in mumbai weren't able to just pay at the gate, they needed a ticket, but the only place they could buy tickets was at another site in the city about an hours trip away

i can understand them being strict about the ticket process for the big games but for games where the stadiums are going to be by no means full i would have thought some common sense would be applied

After a blistering start, Afghanistan in danger of losing the advantage against Zim

49/0 to 66/4

Horrendous organisation that doesn't allow for rain intervening

Gotta feel sorry for Ireland and Netherlands who's chances were taken away by rain

It is unlucky and no-one should go home without some chance of playing; schedules are tight and there's no second day option.
Something similar could happen on our 20/20 finals day, a virtual washout, but I imagine there's a second day available?
Maybe the authorities should add a second day to try to get a balanced tournament; or at very least have some matting available to have a one-over shoot-out even if it's leathering it down? Farcical I know, but it's cost a lot of money for the smaller nations to get to the tournament.
When the competition's next in England then extra time must be found, considering our weather!

There is a blank day between each round of games in each group.....so couldn't the two games that were washed out yesterday have been played today ?

OK.......no TV coverage & probably no tickets available but if there was a will they could have played ?

Afghanistan end up with 186 which should be a winning score !

A couple of slow overs and that over rate is going to be up to 10 before you know it......

Hong Kong won the toss and are batting against Scotland. Early wicket for Scotland....

What a magnificent achievement by Scotland on winning their first match at a Global event Well done on beating the mighty Hong Kong

If Sir Geoff was skipper it would depend on the score needed.

He would probably only bat if needed but he would have the ability to give the strike to the one scoring quicker

As long as he did not get them run out doing so.

Thanks.

Well at least it's out of the way. How many Hong Kong players were born in Hong Kong? probably he same number as Dutch players born in the kingdom!

Anyway, would think it's best for world cricket if we could combine Hol/Ire/Sco in the way the Windies are combined. That way they would be genuine contenders for a one-day trophy; and in return let the Middle East (inc. Afghanistan) combine and All-Africa (except SA) and then we would have a serious challenge to the world order.

I suppose Jersey/IOM/Gibraltar is stretching it a little....

I have played against Jersey a number of times.