Netherlands and Scotland shared the World T20 Qualifier trophy as the final washed out due to heavy rain in The Village ground, Malahide, Dublin. Both teams have qualified for the World T2o finals in India next year. Scotland booked the India ticket topping the group B for the first time in the history of world T20 while Netherlands had to qualify through the playoff window.
The 20 days long tournament saw 16 matches under sunny sky, but rain forced the organiser to announce the end of the tournament getting any single winner. Six teams- Afghanistan, Hong Kong, Ireland, Netherlands, Oman and Scotland- qualified for the main draw; and will join ten Test playing nation for the sixteen team tournament next year in India.
Bernard Scholtz, left arm spinner of Namibia, has been awarded the man of series.He finished with 14 wickets along with Ireland’s John Moony and Scotland Alasdair Evans; but Scholtz has been chosen for his match winning 4 for 11 against Papua New Guinea.
For both Scotland and Netherlands World T20 2016 will be third appearance in the tournamnet history. Scotland played the first two tournaments – 2007 and 2009; and Netherlands qualified for 2009 and 2014 tournaments. While Scotland yet to win a match in the tournament, Netherlands notched up two upset victories over England in the 2009 and 2014 World T20 respectively.
Being the joint winner Scotland captain Preston Mommsen ushered praise on the entire squad members.
“The brand of cricket we played, especially with the bat made a real impact on the tournament. At the same time take nothing away from our bowlers; it was an all-round performance from all 15. It’s a dream to go and play a World Cup in India; we will do a lot of preparation and will be raring to go,” Mommsen told ICC.
“It’s the first time that we’ve topped this tournament, we’re ecstatic as a team,” Mommsen told ESPNcricinfo after lifting the trophy with Dutch skipper Peter Borren.
“We shared the trophy a few years ago but associate cricket has moved on a lot from then, it’s been a tough road and it’s been a great effort from both teams to get here. It’s a shame we couldn’t get out there today and get an overall winner but we are very happy to share it with these guys.” Dutch captain Peter Borren said.
Meanwhile, Netherlands winning their last four games reached to the finals. Captain Peter Borren wants to come up with a good show in India.
“I think Netherlands have pretty consistently been at world tournaments so that was one we were very disappointed to miss. In a way, a lot has changed in the last two years in Dutch cricket. We’ve become far more professional,” the Dutch captain Peter Borren told ICC.
“To win 4 games on the trot with the pressure on us was amazing, we could have been going home last week and I am very proud of my guys that we really performed in those positions. India is a fantastic place to go a play cricket in, it’s a tournament watched by a global audience and we can’t wait for it,” Borren further added.