Hong Kong and Netherlands claim final two spots

Hong Kong overcame a disastrous start to beat Papua New Guinea (PNG) by 29 runs at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Thursday to secure a historic berth in the ICC World Twenty20 Bangladesh 2014.

With captain Jamie Atkinson watching from the sidelines due to a broken thumb, Hong Kong recovered from 19 for four inside four overs to post 137 for nine. Munir Dar then struck with three for 26 and Haseeb Amjad bagged two for 18 as Hong Kong bowled out PNG for 108 with five balls remaining.

Like Nepal, Hong Kong will be making a maiden appearance at the global stage when it will arrive in Bangladesh in March 2014 where the West Indies will defend its men’s title and Australia will defend its women’s title.

Completing the line-up was the Netherlands which defeated Scotland by eight wickets with 13 balls to spare, following Wesley Barresi’s 75 not out, Ben Cooper’s 40 and Michael Swart’s 30 not out.

The Netherlands had last played in the 2009 event in the England and had upset the host nation in the tournament opener at Lord’s.

Today’s results mean that all six qualification spots at the ICC World Twenty20 Bangladesh 2014 have been secured, with the six non-Test playing nations being Afghanistan, Ireland, Hong Kong, Nepal, the Netherlands and the UAE .

Meanwhile, Italy’s Gareth Berg registered the first hat-trick in the history of the competition as the Europe side defeated Namibia by 25 runs to secure ninth position.