The qualifiers for the T20 World Cup have been done and dusted for some time now, and it’s safe to say that it exceeded all expectations. After 12 games played over a week where every side won at least once, four teams made it to the Super 12 stage. The Sri Lankans and the Dutch qualified from Group A, while the Irish and Zimbabwe made it through from Group B.
A major talking point, though, was the elimination of the 2-time champs West Indies, who lost against Scotland and Ireland. The Nicholas Pooran-led side just “did not turn up” to the tournament, in the words of their head coach Phil Simmons. They had the benefit of playing a 2-match T20I series against the defending champions Australia prior to the qualifiers, a luxury few teams in the world could dream of.
While the bowlers did a decent enough job, the batsmen failed to show up in all three games with a high score of 153 against Zimbabwe, the only match they managed to win. The writing was on the wall after the first game as they lost to a Scottish side who had played just 2 T20I’s this year. The bowlers conceded too many in the first innings and in a chase of 161, they crumbled to the off-spin of Mark Watt and Michael Leask.
While they pulled things back with a win over Zimbabwe, their deficiencies against spin were once again exposed by the Irish, which proved to be the final nail in the coffin. A notable inference from the Caribbean side’s early exit was the quality that these associate nations possess, at least in the shortest format.
These 12 games, initially written off as a mere sideshow before the main act took center stage, turned out to be a mini-tournament. It kicked off with Namibia pulling off a Houdini act against Asia Cup winners Sri Lanka, while the Scottish and Irish also beat West Indies against the odds.
There were incredible individual performances as well, like Curtis Campher’s whirlwind 72 off 32 balls against Scotland and Kusal Mendis’ 79 in a must-win game against the Dutch. Stirling and Balbirnie’s match-winning 73-run opening partnership, Watt-Leask bowling display against the Windies and the all-round performances of Sikinder Raza have all proved there is no dearth of talent among the associate nations.
The two teams that made it through to the next round last year – Scotland and Namibia – did not qualify this time, while all 8 competing teams have at least one win. This clearly tells us that the difference between the associate nations is far less compared to the full-member countries.
This brings us to the question of why they don’t play the so-called full-member teams more often. For instance, Scotland have played just two T20I’s since the T20 World Cup last year, the lowest among the 16 countries in the competition. They have played more games in this tournament (3) than the entire year. India and England, on the other hand, have played 35 and 21 respectively.
“Who knows what we would be capable of if we played more?” Scottish spinner Mark Watt tweeted after the defeat. While their captain Richie Berrington said: “You’re certainly not going to go wrong by playing more cricket. As a team, the more experience and exposure we get, we are only going to get better.”
The only way for them to have a chance of competing against the big teams more often is if they manage to get full-member status, which is easier said than done. Over the past 20 years, the ICC has granted full-member status to just two countries – Ireland and Afghanistan. The Irish have benefitted significantly from this as they played a total of 22 T20I’s since last year’s World Cup.
The ICC’s criteria for attaining full-member status is daunting as teams must win at least once against a full-member in ICC events and also register 4 wins in bilateral series across an 8-year period. This has made it almost impossible for any country to get full-member status since no team is willing to play a bilateral series against them.
But watching Dutch skipper Scott Edwards’ agony turn to ecstacy after the UAE’s win against Namibia, the tears of joy of the Irish after their victory over the Windies and Zimbabwe’s wild celebrations after they were through to the Super 12 shows what this tournament means to these teams. And the ICC seems to have listened too, increasing the number of teams for the next World Cup to 24.
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