Associate Tournaments (I-Cup and WCL Championship 2015-2016/7)

[Aislabie]

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The latest WCLC and I-Cup cycle is also underway. The fixtures for the two competitions are as follows:

Spoiler: Intercontinental Cup fixtures

May – June 2015

Namibia

Hong Kong

Ireland

United Arab Emirates

Scotland

Afghanistan

Netherlands

Hong Kong

August – November 2015

Netherlands

Scotland

Afghanistan

Papua New Guinea

United Arab Emirates

Hong Kong

Namibia

Ireland

February – June 2016

Afghanistan

Namibia

United Arab Emirates

Netherlands

Hong Kong

Scotland

Papua New Guinea

Ireland

August – November 2016

Ireland

Hong Kong

Scotland

United Arab Emirates

Netherlands

Afghanistan

Papua New Guinea

Namibia

February – June 2017

Afghanistan

Ireland

United Arab Emirates

Papua New Guinea

Hong Kong

Netherlands

Scotland

Namibia

July – November 2017

Hong Kong

Afghanistan

Papua New Guinea

Scotland

Ireland

Netherlands

Namibia

United Arab Emirates

November – December 2017

Afghanistan

United Arab Emirates

Ireland

Scotland

Hong Kong

Papua New Guinea

Namibia

Netherlands

Spoiler: World Cricket League Championship fixtures

May – July 2015

Namibia

Hong Kong

Netherlands

PNG

Kenya

UAE

Scotland

Nepal

August – November 2015

Netherlands

Scotland

Nepal

PNG

UAE

Hong Kong (ODI)

Namibia

Kenya

February – June 2016

Nepal

Namibia

UAE

Netherlands

Hong Kong

Scotland (ODI)

PNG

Kenya

August – November 2016

Kenya

Hong Kong

Scotland

UAE (ODI)

Netherlands

Nepal

PNG

Namibia

February – June 2017

Nepal

Kenya

UAE

PNG (ODI)

Hong Kong

Netherlands

Scotland

Namibia

July – November 2017

Hong Kong

Nepal

PNG

Scotland (ODI)

Kenya

Netherlands

Namibia

UAE

November – December 2017

Nepal

UAE

Kenya

Scotland

Hong Kong

PNG (ODI)

Namibia

Netherlands

The obvious thing you'll notice is that Afghanistan and Ireland will not play in the WCLC, replaced by Kenya and Nepal. This is because the ICC decided in typically dodgy fashion to change the rules after the qualifying had been completed. Because that totally makes sense.

Anyway, each tour is played over one first-class and two List A matches.

 

[Aislabie]

The two teams who have played so far have shown some interesting qualities, in my opinion:

Hong Kong have shown that they have a clutch of quality players, but not a great deal besides: Irfan Ahmed, Jamie Atkinson, Nizakat Khan, Tanwir Afzal, Haseeb Amjad and Nadeem Ahmed are as good as any players in Associate and Affiliate cricket, but beyond them there's a bit of a gulf before you get to the rest: Roy Lamsam and Skhawat Ali at two and three probably won't get them to the 2018 WCQ, but if they can galvanise a settled eleven, there's no reason they couldn't at least come close. Much will depend on whether they can get Hayat and Barkat to pull their weight. Might also be worth pursuing Zain Abbas and seeing if he'll make a return.

Namibia have a large player pool compared to the other sides at this level, but very few of them seem to really stand out. They clearly miss Christi Viljoen, who has gone to New Zealand in order to pursue a pro career. They look a shadow of the side that finished third in the World T20 qualifier a few years ago, although the lack of out-and-out pace bowlers, and centralised cricket structure trying to service a disparate population have never been exactly helpful. Worrying signs for them with two collapses in two WCL games so far, even if they have won more than they lost. There will be tougher tests to come for them.

If I had to predict the two tournaments, I'd go with:

I-Cup|WCLC
Ireland| Scotland
Afghanistan| Netherlands
Scotland| United Arab Emirates
United Arab Emirates| Papua New Guinea
Netherlands| Hong Kong
Papua New Guinea| Nepal
Namibia| Namibia
Hong Kong| Kenya

 

[Aislabie]

A lot of warm-ups and things are going on before the first European round of the I-Cup, which will feature the following matches:

• Ireland v United Arab Emirates at Malahide (02-05 June)
• Scotland v Afghanistan at New Williamfield (02-05 June)
• Netherlands v Papua New Guinea at Amstelveen (16-19 June)

Afghanistan played the first day of a warm-up against Oxford MCCU today at Wormsley, and Mohammad Shahzad caned a brutal 266 before being out to the last ball of the day; Samiullah Shenwari and Nasir Jamal were also in the runs, but Shahzad just stood head and shoulders above anyone else. He was near-enough on a level with Pietersen at the start of the season, simply awesome. Afghanistan will bowl in the morning with an attack that includes Yamin Ahmadzai and a couple of others.

Scotland have a warm-up with the UAE (presumably a non-first-class fixture, although it'll be played over three days) at the Rose Bowl, for which they have named a real new-look squad; Andrew Umeed and Mark Watt come into the side based on some really good performances for Warwickshire Seconds and Highlanders respectively, while Con de Lange adds globe-trotting experience to the side after completing his residency. Gavin Main adds some youth and pace to the seam department, while the county players will remain unavailable until the actual Afghanistan fixture. This game should be a good time to size up some fringe talent.

Ireland don't appear to have any warm-ups planned, but their squad will be at full strength for the UAE game, with all the county players being released as the I-Cup is now technically an ICC qualifier and therefore included in their contracts. They should be resounding odds-on favourites for this game, but it will be interesting to see how they shape up compared to the likes of Scotland and Afghanistan. This doesn't feel like quite the same all-conquering Ireland that we've seen previously.

No news yet about the other teams.

One thing's for sure, though - we can likely expect a pretty sharp spike in standard compared to the Namibia-Hong Kong game, as the four teams that made the World Cup all face off against one another.

(Oh, and it probably makes sense to include the World T20 Qualifier in this thread too, when the time comes.)

 

[Aislabie]

The Scotland-UAE warm-up match (played at the Rose Bowl for some reason) finished yesterday, the Scottish team winning by a massive 275 runs.

Andrew Umeed and Hamish Gardiner are shaping up to be the basis of a good red-ball opening partnership for the Scots - both scored fifties in each innings, resulting in opening stands of 148 and 114 in the match; the Scottish I-Cup challenge shouldn't be at all short on runs. The fringe players (including Umeed and Gardiner) generally performed respectably: Munsey hit a fifty, Leask belted 60-odd, and the bowlers all did their job excellently (including bowling the Emiratis out for 73 on the second day). With a couple of county players still to come into the side on Tuesday, the signs are good for the Scots.

Spoiler: Scottish squad

(in possible batting order)
Hamish Gardiner
Andrew Umeed
Calum MacLeod
Preston Mommsen
Freddie Coleman
Richie Berrington
Michael Leask
Matthew Cross
Safyaan Sharif
Alasdair Evans
Gavin Main

Con de Lange
Mark Watt

This was a very worrying game for a near full-strength Emirati side. Their bowling attack was made up of Naveed, Guruge, Javed, Raza and Tauqir, which is as good as it's going to get, but it got taken for a match aggregate of 626 for twelve wickets; they only bowled about 150 overs, too, so the runs were really flowing. The batting was missing a couple of names - no Khurram, Chandran or Berenger - but Asif Iqbal, Amjad Ali and Chirag Suri could just as easily be the line-up they go with. If that result is anything to go by, they are going to get absolutely flattened by the Irish when they meet on Tuesday.

Still little news for the Dutch or PNG teams, but a possible Dutch squad could include the following:

Spoiler: Dutch possibles

Ben Cooper
Stephan Myburgh
Eric Szwarczynski

Rahil Ahmed
Wesley Barresi

Peter Borren
Jeroen Brand
Michael Rippon

Mudassar Bukhari

Ahsan Malik Jamil
Vivian Kingma
Paul van Meekeren

Pieter Seelaar
Thijs van Schelven

No idea about PNG; guess the world will find out about that moments before they take to the field.

So, if I had to make predictions then I'd go with the following:

• Ireland to thrash the UAE
• Afghanistan to narrowly beat Scotland
• Netherlands to draw with PNG

 

[IceAgeComing]

Scotland are playing Afghanistan in my home town, I might just go and have a look during the week since its walkable; although I've never been down to Williamfield before...

These are still warmups, right?

 

[Aislabie]

Scotland are playing Afghanistan in my home town, I might just go and have a look during the week since its walkable; although I've never been down to Williamfield before...

These are still warmups, right?

The first-class games are I-Cup games, and therefore theoretically Test qualifiers. Which brings me to a recap of the first day today.

Ireland (420/3) v United Arab Emirates
After a bit of rain early in the day, Ireland got right into their stride, showing the quality that they have at their disposal. A tidy opening stand was ended by Mohammad Naveed, who got Porterfield nicking off at 58 for one. That was about as good as things got as Stirling and Joyce both hit centuries as part of a double-hundred stand before Stirling fell for a first-class career best 146. His departure seemed to set Ed Joyce free - despite Niall O'Brien and Andy Balbirnie adding only twenty between them for the rest of the day, Ed Joyce belied his reputation as a steady accumulator to add another hundred to his personal tally. He finished the day with his highest first-class score, and the highest score by any Irishman in an international, a 223-ball unbeaten 229. He will be looking to go out in the morning and add still more against a very rickety bowling attack.

Scotland v Afghanistan
A very disappointing rain:cricket ratio.

 

[IceAgeComing]

Shock as cricket happens in Scotland!

 

[Aislabie]

Wow, really is a pretty ground. Shame the plans to relocate Cricket Scotland there on a more permanent basis fell through.

After Day Two, the games are looking thus:

Ireland (492) v United Arab Emirates (207/8)
Although they are well ahead in the game, Ireland should be pretty peeved here. They lost their last seven wickets for just 68 runs against a bowling and fielding unit that had been made to look like a joke by Scotland and the Irish top order. All the same, the Irish bowlers have rallied well. Murtagh is yet to really hit his straps, but Craig Young bowled well, as did the much-maligned Mooney. They were also ably supported by George Dockrell's spin, and a follow-on and Irish victory seem to be almost inevitable if the weather holds out. Things could certainly be worse for Ireland, but they could equally have been better.

Scotland (227/8) v Afghanistan
Scotland will be a bit worried about this game now, although if Cross can rally with a little bit of support from Evans and Main then Scotland might push about 270. 240 is more likely. The seven-pronged, youth-orientated Afghan bowling attack did its job well today. I would expect Afghanistan to try to roll over the last two wickets and rack up a first-innings lead before looking to the win. Saying that, Asghar Stanikzai's side contains players like Javed Ahmadi and Mohammad Shahzad, both recently off the back of double-hundreds and positively bristling with form and class. Scotland must try to not lose from this point.

 

[IceAgeComing]

Wow, really is a pretty ground.

I was going to try and get a photo of the ground with the Wallace Monument in the back; but that angle was only possible from the members only section - which admittedly wouldn't cost me an absolute fortune and its something I'm thinking about (I'm still technically a student for another month) I didn't want to rush into that just for a pretty photo

 

[grkrama]

the ground looks peaceful and beautiful

 

[Aislabie]

Ireland (492) v United Arab Emirates (213 & 251/9)
Another good day for Ireland, as they're now one wicket away from an innings victory. Ruddy marvellous for the Irish! Also very impressive is the fact that the Irish bowlers got through about 103 overs today I think, which partly reflects the amount of spin that was bowled, but equally shows a more positive attitude than many other sides show. Al the same, Ireland will view this as little more than a routine win over a weaker side.

Scotland (233) v Afghanistan (96/8)
Another rain-ravaged day, but one which may have actually given Scotland the chance to push for a win if they're prepared to risk losing in order to win. Con de Lange bowled very effectively on his capped debut, while a young seam attack of Evans, Sharif and Main did its collective job very well. All the same, you have to wonder what it will take for Afghanistan to pick Hashmatullah Shaidi to face the red ball. All the same, this is a far better result than Scotland could ever have hoped for, and but for the rain it could have defined their whole tournament. Grant Bradburn suddenly doesn't look so blindly optimistic for saying that Scotland could make the Test Challenge, although their climate could be their own worst enemy.

 

[MattW]

Al the same, Ireland will view this as little more than a routine win over a weaker side.

Which is the fundamental problem with the tiers, Ireland just aren't going to get nearly enough game time against strong opponents to push them to the next level. How can they really be expected to get a win over Zimbabwe in the test challenge, when two years of mostly walkovers will be their first class preparation?

 

[blockerdave]

Which is the fundamental problem with the tiers, Ireland just aren't going to get nearly enough game time against strong opponents to push them to the next level. How can they really be expected to get a win over Zimbabwe in the test challenge, when two years of mostly walkovers will be their first class preparation?

How much first class preparation will Zim get in the meantime? They don't really play Tests and they aren't in the IC cup - do they actually play anything other than domestic first class cricket?

Surely Ireland should be able to get Boyd Rankin back and given a dispensation not to have to go through a qualifying period? KP has more chance of playing for England again than he does.

 

[MattW]

How much first class preparation will Zim get in the meantime? They don't really play Tests and they aren't in the IC cup - do they actually play anything other than domestic first class cricket?

Looks like they have nothing scheduled - which makes me wonder why they didn't play tests against Pakistan while they were over there, or in Zimbabwe as a return series.

The same problem exists with Nepal and Kenya - only being half included in the competition - so won't play FC matches against sides they are of a similar skill level to.

Of course given that there's no downside at all to Zimbabwe losing the test qualifier - why not schedule some test-length matches against Ireland?

 

[Aislabie]

How can they really be expected to get a win over Zimbabwe in the test challenge, when two years of mostly walkovers will be their first class preparation?

I rather think this is the point, in all honesty