2015 World Twenty20 Qualifier
The 2015 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier, for the 2016 World Twenty20, was held from 6 to 26 July 2015. The tournament was hosted by both Ireland and Scotland. 51 matches were played among 14 nations, down from 72 matches among 16 nations previously. The tournament formed part of the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier series, with the top six teams going forward to the qualifying round of the 2016 ICC World Twenty20 tournament.
Matches where both teams had T20I status were recorded as a Twenty20 International match. The teams in this tournament with this status were Scotland, Ireland, Netherlands, Afghanistan, United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Nepal and Papua New Guinea. Matches which featured one or two teams without T20I status were recorded as a Twenty20 match.
Scotland were the first team to qualify for the 2016 ICC World Twenty20 tournament by finishing top of Group B. Co-hosts Ireland joined them by finishing top of Group A. Joining the two group winners through the qualifier matches were the Netherlands, Afghanistan Hong Kong, and Oman. It was the first time that Oman qualified for a major ICC event and with their win over Namibia, they gained T20I status. The UAE and Nepal who made their debut in the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 did not qualify, however the UAE did play in the 2016 Asia Cup which for the first time was played in a Twenty20 format.
Scotland and the Netherlands shared the trophy after the final was abandoned without a ball being bowled due to rain. The Netherlands were the only associate nation to advance past the group stage in the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 tournament.
Teams
Format
From the 14 teams, the top 6 qualifiers will progress to the first (qualifying) round of the 2016 ICC World Twenty20, where they will meet the ninth and tenth-ranked full members (Bangladesh and Zimbabwe) in the ICC T20I Championship table as on 30 April 2014. The teams for the two groups along with the fixtures were announced on 14 May.
Squads
Scotland's Kyle Coetzer was not originally included in the 15-man squad, but was added on 10 June after Freddie Coleman withdrew due to personal circumstances. America's Steven Taylor withdrew from the squad on 22 June after securing a contract with Barbados Tridents in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL). He was replaced by Timothy Surujbally. On 2 July Hong Kong's Waqas Barkat was replaced by Giacomo Lamplough after Barkat was ruled out due to visa issues. Canada's Nikhil Dutta chose to stay with the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in the CPL and was replaced by Hiral Patel. South African born Roelof van der Merwe obtained a Dutch passport a month before the tournament started and was selected over Vivian Kingma. Namibia's Zhivago Groenewald was replaced by Michau du Preez. Oman's Khawar Ali returned home for personal reasons midway through the tournament, and was replaced by Arun Poulose in their squad. However, Ali returned for the 5th place play-off match against Afghanistan, and in turn made his T20I debut.
Dutch bowler Ahsan Malik was reported for bowling with an illegal action following the Netherlands win over Scotland on 11 July. He was not allowed to take any further part in the tournament, until an independent assessment has taken place. Kenyan bowler James Ngoche was also suspended for bowling with an illegal action. This was following Kenya's match with Oman on 11 July. Along with Malik, Ngoche undertook an independent assessment. Hong Kong spin bowler Nizakat Khan was suspended for bowling with an illegal action, following Hong Kong's match against Nepal on 15 July. He too underwent an independent assessment. On 23 July Namibia's Jason Davidson was suspended for using an illegal action in their match against the Netherlands. He also underwent an assessment on his bowling.
Venues
Venues in Scotland |
Warm-up matches
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- Papua New Guinea won the toss and elected to field.
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- Namibia won the toss and elected to bat.
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- Hong Kong won the toss and elected to bat.
North West Warriors 119/9 (15 overs) | v | |
- United States of America won the toss and elected to field.
- Match reduced to 15 overs per side.
v | Western Districts Cricket Union 147/2 (18.3 overs) | |
Nitish Kumar 68 (38) Sudesh Fernando 4/25 (3 overs) |
- Canada won the toss and elected to bat.
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- Jersey won the toss and elected to bat.
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- Nepal won the toss and elected to bat.
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- No toss.
- Match abandoned without a ball bowled.
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- Jersey won the toss and elected to field.
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- No toss.
- Match abandoned without a ball bowled.
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- Ireland won the toss and elected to field.
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- Canada won the toss and elected to bat.
Fixtures
Group A
Advanced to Playoffs.
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- Ireland won the toss and elected to field.
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- United States of America won the toss and elected to bat.
- Shiva Vashishat, Hammad Shahid, Jasdeep Singh, Mrunal Patel and Timil Patel (all USA) made their T20 debuts.
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- Jersey won the toss and elected to field.
- Match start delayed due to rain.
- Corey Bisson, Corne Bodenstein, Edward Farley, Peter Gough, Jonty Jenner, Anthony Hawkins-Kay, Ben Kynman, Rhys Palmer, Charles Perchard, Ben Stevens, Nat Watkins (all Jer) and Anshuman Rath (HK) all made their T20 debuts.
- This was Jersey's first appearance in an ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier tournament and their debut win.
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- Nepal won the toss and elected to field.
- Match was interrupted by rain after 7.0 overs of the 1st innings. (Nam: 54/1); then reduced to 17 overs per side. The game was started, but the match was abandoned after 7.4 overs of play.
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- United States of America won the toss and elected to field.
- Alex Amsterdam and Nicholas Standford (both USA) made their T20 debuts.
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- Jersey won the toss and elected to field.
- Start delayed due a wet outfield.
- Lega Siaka and Chad Soper (both PNG) made their T20 debuts.
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- Namibia won the toss and elected to field.
- Start delayed due to a wet outfield.
- Naseer Jamali and Timothy Surujbally (both USA) made their T20 debuts.
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- Ireland won the toss and elected to field.
- This is Nepal's lowest total in a T20 match.
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- Ireland won the toss and elected to bat.
- Charles Amini, Mahuru Dai, Willie Gavera, Loa Nou, Kila Pala, John Reva, Lega Siaka, Tony Ura, Assad Vala, Norman Vanua and Jack Vare (all PNG) made their T20I debuts.
- This defeat for Ireland ended a streak of 21 consecutive wins in ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier matches.
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- Papua New Guinea won the toss and elected to field.
- Papua New Guinea advanced to the playoffs with this win.
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- Namibia won the toss and elected to field.
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- Ireland won the toss and elected to field.
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- Papua New Guinea won the toss and elected to field.
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- United States of America won the toss and elected to field.
- Giacomo Lamplough (HK) made his T20 debut.
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- Namibia won the toss and elected to field.
Group B
Advanced to 2016 World Twenty20 and Semifinal 1.
Advanced to Playoffs.
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- Scotland won the toss and elected to field
- Mohammad Shahzad, Umair Ali, Abdul Shakoor, Mohammad Tauqir and Mohammad Naveed (all UAE) made their T20I debuts.
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- Kenya won the toss and elected to field.
- Start was delayed by rain.
- Navneet Dhaliwal and Satsimranjit Dhindsa (Can) and Narendra Kalyan (Ken) made their T20 debuts.
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- United Arab Emirates won the toss and elected to bat.
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- Netherlands won the toss and elected to bat.
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- Oman won the toss and elected to field.
- Munis Ansari, Khawar Ali, Mehran Khan and Zeeshan Maqsood (all Oman) made their T20 debuts.
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- Netherlands won the toss and elected to field.
- Fayyaz Ahmed and Nasir Aziz (both UAE) made their T20I debuts.
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- Oman won the toss and elected to field.
- Match reduced to 13 overs per side.
- Mohammad Nadeem (Oman) made his T20 debut.
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- Afghanistan won the toss and elected to bat.
- Afghanistan's total of 210 runs is their highest in T20 cricket.
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- Oman won the toss and elected to field.
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- United Arab Emirates won the toss and elected to field.
- Srimantha Wijeratne (Can) made his T20 debut.
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- Kenya won the toss and elected to bat.
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- Afghanistan won the toss and elected to field.
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- Scotland won the toss and elected to field.
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- Netherlands won the toss and elected to field.
- Match delayed by a wet outfield.
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- No toss.
- Match delayed by a wet outfield.
- Match abandoned without a ball bowled.
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- Oman won the toss and elected to field.
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- No toss.
- Match delayed by a wet outfield.
- Match abandoned without a ball bowled.
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- Netherlands won the toss and elected to field.
Playoffs
Bracket
| Qualifiers | Semi-finals† | Final | ||||||||||||
| B1 |  Scotland | 117/5 | ||||||||||||
| A2 |  Hong Kong | 162/5 | A2 | Hong Kong | 116 | |||||||||
| B3 |  Afghanistan | 161/7 | B1 | Scotland | abd. | |||||||||
| B2 |  Netherlands | abd. | ||||||||||||
| A1 |  Ireland | 128 | ||||||||||||
| A3 |  Namibia | 135/6 | B2 | Netherlands | 129/5 | |||||||||
| B2 | Netherlands | 137/6 | 3rd place play-off | |||||||||||
| A2 | Hong Kong | abd. | ||||||||||||
| A1 | Ireland | abd. | ||||||||||||
| Qualifiers | 5th place play-off† | ||||||||
| A4 |  Papua New Guinea | 127/6 | |||||||
| B3 | Afghanistan | 128/4 | |||||||
| B3 | Afghanistan | 130/5 | |||||||
| B4 |  Oman | 127/9 | |||||||
| B4 | Oman | 150/5 | |||||||
| A3 | Namibia | 148/9 | |||||||
- * Team entered by losing in the playoff qualifiers.
- † Teams qualified for the 2016 ICC World Twenty20 upon reaching this stage.
Qualifier 1
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- Afghanistan won the toss and elected to bat.
- Winner qualifies for 2016 ICC World Twenty20 and play Semifinal 1 and loser will play in Qualifier 3.
Qualifier 2
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- Namibia won the toss and elected to bat.
- Winner qualifies for 2016 ICC World Twenty20 and play Semifinal 2 and loser will play in Qualifier 4.
Qualifier 3
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- Papua New Guinea won the toss and elected to bat.
- Winner qualifies for 2016 ICC World Twenty20 and play 5th Place Playoff.
- Vani Morea and Chad Soper (both PNG) made their T20I debuts.
Qualifier 4
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- Oman won the toss and elected to field.
- Winner qualifies for 2016 ICC World Twenty20 and play 5th Place Playoff.
- Aamer Ali (Oman) made his T20 debut.
Semifinal 1
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- Scotland won the toss and elected to field.
- Winner qualifies for Final and loser will play in 3rd Place Playoff.
5th Place Playoff
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- Afghanistan won the toss and elected to field.
- After securing a top-six finish with their win over Namibia in the qualifiers, this became Oman's first T20I match.
- Aamir Kaleem, Aamer Ali, Munis Ansari, Jatinder Singh, Khawar Ali, Mehran Khan, Mohammad Nadeem, Rajesh Ranpura, Sultan Ahmed, Zeeshan Maqsood and Zeeshan Siddiqui (all Oman) made their T20I debuts.
Semifinal 2
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- Netherlands won the toss and elected to field.
- Winner qualifies for Final and loser will play in 3rd Place Playoff.
3rd Place Playoff
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- No toss.
- Match abandoned without a ball bowled.
- With no play possible, Ireland finished in third place due to finishing top of their group.
Final
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- No toss.
- Match abandoned without a ball bowled.
- With the match being abandoned, the Netherlands and Scotland shared the trophy.
Final standings
1st to 6th Qualified for the 2016 ICC World Twenty20 and 2019 ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier.