T20 WORLD CUP QUALIFIER
With the much anticipated qualifiers for the T20 World Cup due to begin soon on the 18th of October in the UAE and with the involvement of some of the top associate nations in the world, here is a round up of players to look out for for each of the 14 participating nations.
In Focus – 14 players to watch out for at the T20 World Cup Qualifier
ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier Press Conference
The team to watch will be Singapore, who have recently beaten the Test playing Zimbabwe and the experienced Nepal team.
Singapore skipper Amjad Mahboob said: “: “This tournament is very important for us especially after having beaten Zimbabwe and Nepal and we want to carry the confidence from these victories into this tournament and give our best.”
Image Credit: Virendra Saklani/Gulf News
ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier Trophy
The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier Trophy was unveiled in Abu Dhabi. The event was attended by all 14 participating captains, with HE Sheikh Nahyan Mabarak Al Nahyan.
Singapore is in Group A. Group A team captains will be present for a pre- tournament press conference at the Dubai International Stadium on 12th October, 5.30 PM (local) time.
Singapore Captain, Amjad is looking all set to take the team upwards and onwards in this event.
WORLD T20 GLOBAL QUALIFIERS
UAE
Oct 18th – 2nd Nov 2019
In what is surely going to be the most crucial tournament in our nation’s cricketing history, six spots for the World T20 will be up for grabs!
The T20 World Cup is scheduled to be played next year in Australia in November.
Singapore will be up against some formidable opponents in their campaign with six other nations in Group A.
Group A: Scotland, the Netherlands, PNG, Namibia, Singapore, Kenya and Bermuda
Group B: UAE, Ireland, Oman, Hong Kong, Canada, Jersey and Nigeria.
Singapore will play two warm up matches against Canada and Jersey before coming up against highest ranked team of the tournament Scotland (11) in their first match in the 18th of October 2019. Singapore are currently ranked 21 in the T20 rankings.
Wishing our Crimson Reds all the best and MAJULAH!
Image Credit: ICC
SINGAPORE – Singapore cricketer Jeevan Santhanam is only 14 but he has big ambitions in the sport.
According to his father S. Santhanam, the Raffles Institution student is keen to pursue a professional career.
That dream was boosted after he was selected as one of the Republic’s two representatives, along with women’s national team captain Shafina Mahesh, 20, for a month-long training stint at India’s National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru.
The camp features 58 young players from various Commonwealth nations.
Jeevan, who plays in the local cricket league and represents the Singapore Recreation Club, left for India on Wednesday (Oct 9). He said: “It is a great opportunity to be selected for this training with (this group of) multi-national players.
“I am super excited and looking forward to the experience, to learn new skills and hopefully bring wins for our country.”
S. Santhanam, 44, assistant director in the engineering line, said: “Jeevan has loved cricket from very young, and I think this trip will benefit him a lot.
“He wants to pursue a career in cricket and possibly play county cricket or even in the (professional Twenty20 cricket league) Indian Premier League, depending on the level he and Singapore cricket manage to (rise to) in the future.”
Singapore Cricket Association chief executive Saad Khan Janjua added: “India is a Test-playing nation and their coaches at the national academy are of a very high level.
“Giving Jeevan and Shafina this exposure and the opportunity to learn from different coaches and playing with cricketers from different countries, will help them improve their skills. I am sure they will return with belief and confidence, and will be able to contribute to Singapore cricket.”
Local cricket has celebrated a number of recent highs. In September, the national men’s team scored an upset victory over Zimbabwe at the Instarem Singapore Tri-Nations T20 Series at Balestier Road, the first time Singapore has beaten a Test-playing, International Cricket Council full member country.
Singapore also won SEA Games gold in the T20 in 2017 and will compete at the ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier from Oct 18-Nov 2 in Dubai.
To reach that tournament, world No.21 Singapore had beaten No. 11 Nepal en route to winning the Asian regional final in July.
In Dubai, they will face the likes of Scotland (No. 12), Bermuda (30), the Netherlands (16), Kenya (29), Papua New Guinea (17) and Namibia (20) in the 14-team qualifier.
The top six teams will qualify for the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia next year.
Singapore are among the fastest rising member nations around the globe. Just last month, they beat Nepal and made it to the qualifiers for the T20 World Cup, as one of 14 teams. Six of those will actually make it to the 16-team World Cup next year.
Anything else I should know?
Singapore only played their first T20 international three months ago, and have since won four of their five games. After Afghanistan, Nepal and Oman, they could be the next big success story from South Asia. While Afghanistan and Nepal’s rise are more widely known, Oman, who famously beat Ireland in the 2016 T20 World Cup, will go into the T20 World Cup Qualifiers as one of the favourites.
Singapore Make History by Beating Test Nation and Full Member Zimbabwe
Singapore 181 for 9 (Manpreet 41, David 41, Burl 3-24) beat Zimbabwe 177 for 7 (Williams 66, Chakabva 48, Mahboob 2-20, Prakash 2-34)
Singapore batted first and registered a very competitive score. They learned from their earlier mistakes, had greater intent and looking to play aggressive cricket. The openers started superbly with a flourish of boundaries, with everyone chipping in and carrying the momentum till the end.
In an rain-hit 18-over contest Zimbabwe fell four short of the 182 target despite Sean Williams’ 66, to lose their first game of the tri-nation series that now sees both teams (and the other side Nepal) tied on two points each.
This was a historic match witnessed at the Singapore Indian Association ground and credit must be given to the Singapore team to pull off such a remarkable win.
Skipper Paras Khadka’s Unbeaten Hundred Leads Nepal to Victory
Nepal 154 for 1 (Khadka 106*, Sheikh 39*, Prakash 1-10) beat Singapore 151 for 3 (David 64, KC 2-34) by nine wickets.
Singapore were fresh from their victory against Canada in the ICC Challenge League A, where they finished top on equal points. Their confidence was high as they had even defeated Nepal in the ICC Asia Finals. Also, they were captained for the first time by Tim David and played a steady first innings to get the total to 150 which seemed par.
Janak Prakash took an early wicket for the home side. However, Paras Khadka had other ideas and counter- attacked with big sixes as well to put the pressure on the Singapore bowlers. This was a dominant and professional display by the Nepal team to register their first win in the InstaReM presents Singapore Tri- Nation Series opener against Singapore in Singapore.
Singapore will be aiming to come back strong in their next match versus Zimbabwe on Sunday, 29th September 2019.
Zimbabwe Win After Sandeep Lamichhane Heroics
Zimbabwe 133 for 5 (Burl 41*, Mutumbami 40*, Lamichhane3-15) beat Nepal 132 for 6 (Airee 40, Williams 2-19)by five wickets.
Nepal won the toss and elected to bat first. They had decent contributions throughout the match, however could not get any substantial result.
Both Allrounder Ryan Burl and wicketkeeper-batsman Richmond Mutumbami played mature inning to take Zimbabwe to a comfortable win in the InstaReM presents Singapore Tri- Nation Series opener against Nepal in Singapore. Nepal’s leg spin-bowling sensation and global T20 star Sandeep Lamichhane, fresh off a productive CPL stint with Barbados Tridents, troubled Zimbabwe’s top order with his variations.
There was a festive atmosphere at the Singapore Indian Association, with a huge Nepal fan following. And all stakeholders are looking forward to the next Singapore versus Nepal match.
WHAT A GAME OF CRICKET RAIN, SHINE AND A LAST BALL THRILLER where Singapore kept fighting and triumphed defeating Pre League favorites CANADA BY 4 runs.
Canada won the Todd and elected to field.
Singapore again lost 2 wkts rather quickly (2-16). Before Arjun M (72 off 117) & Tim D the Mr. Consistent with the bat (39 off 41) repaired the inns with a 69 run partner ship.
When Singapore lost Tim D with Score reading 3-85 & Manpreet S quickly there after 4-99; Singapore were not sitting pretty.
In came the Surendran C (67 off 67) and blasted a counter attack and together with Arjun M put on a partnership of 115 to steer Singapore towards a dominating position. However there was another twist and Singapore lost 6 wkts in 6.2 ovrs for the addition of only 31 more runs and was bowled out in 48.4ovrs.
Singapore had to turn it on and deliver a special to keep the power packed Canadian unit from blowing pass the total.
Enter Vinoth B the aka ‘STYLES’ and yet again produced the vital 1st break through for Singapore in his 1st over and the 2nd of Canada’s inns.
All the bowlers were live on the wkts column with ANANTHA K taking 2 for 36.
The rain inturupted in the 19th over. With DLS being par it was a nervous wait for both both teams. The sun came out and teams were back on for a 34 over game with Canada needing 104 in 90 balls.
The Canadian batters came hard at Singapore with massive 6s and hard running.
In the 23TD over Tim D this time with ball in hand send down 3 wickets with his crafty off breaks and Canada ended up loosing 4wkts in the space of 6 balls for 2 runs. Anantha K added a runout of Ravindrapal S the dangerous striker and Singapore were once again in the fight.
Nikil D of Canada took the game deep to the last over and the responsibility upon him self to win it in the last over. In AMJAD M the Singapore Captain he found a seasoned street smart operator who was looking to defend 10 runs in the last over.
With 3 dots a 4 & wide Canada needed 4 to tie and 5 to win off the last ball.
Captain AMJAD M leading from the front deceived Dutta N with a slow bouncer and Aryaman U completed the catch to Give Singapore a 4 run win in the last ball.
Singapore had yet again slain the GIANT.
Tim D for his 39 runs and outstanding bowling of 3 for 26 picked up his 3TD Man of the Match award.
Singapore finished joint league points leaders with 8 points.
This was an absolute CLIFF HANGER OF A GAME.
The entire Team Celebrated a Strong finish by Singapore in the ICC CWC CHALLENGE LEAGUE A 2019.
