BULAWAYO: Hosts Zimbabwe and the Netherlands filled the last two places for the Twenty20 World Cup in Australia by winning their qualifying tournament semi-finals in Bulawayo on Friday.

Zimbabwe beat Papua New Guinea by 27 runs after posting 199-5 in 20 overs, then restricting their opponents to 172-8.

The Netherlands defeated the US by seven wickets. Replying to an American total of 138 in 19.4 overs, the Dutch scored 139-3 with six balls to spare.

Australia, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, England, India, Ireland, Namibia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa, Sri Lanka, the UAE and the West Indies had already secured places.

The 16-team tournament runs from Oct 16 to Nov 13 with Australia defending a title they won in the UAE last year.

Winning the toss and opting to bat, Zimbabwe clicked with six batsmen led by Wesley Madhevere scoring at least 22 runs.

Madhevere top scored with 42, including five fours, and added 63 runs for the second wicket with captain Craig Ervine.

Papua New Guinea, who scraped into the semi-finals on net run rate after winning only one of three group matches, were close to matching the Zimbabwe run-rate for much of the innings with Tony Ura starring.

But when Ura fell off the final ball of the 14th, after notching 66, including five sixes and four fours off 35 balls, the island nation lost momentum.

Blessing Muzarabani was the most succesful Zimbabwe bowler, taking two wickets at the expense of 24 runs in four overs.

Zimbabwe, who appointed former star batsman Dave Houghton as coach just before the tournament, will be making a fifth appearance at the T20 finals.

In the other semi-final, captain Monank Patel top scored for the US with 32 and Steven Taylor, their star batsman in the group stage, contributed 26.

Bas de Leede and Paul van Meekeren took two wickets each, but Fred Klaassen, who captured five wickets against Uganda on Thursday, had a disappointing 0-40 four-over stint.

After impressing with the ball, De Leede did even better with the bat, striking an unbeaten 91, including three sixes and nine fours.

Captain and wicket-keeper Scott Edwards weighed in with a run-a-ball 26 to ensure a fourth consecutive appearance at the T20 World Cup tournament for the Dutch.

In placement play-offs, there were victories for Uganda over Jersey and Hong Kong against Singapore, the only team not win so far in Bulawayo.

Published in Dawn, July 16th, 2022