Ireland and Netherlands emerge as frontrunners

Ireland confirmed their status as tournament favourites with a 117-run win over Oman at Krugersdorp. They suffered a slight wobble, losing four wickets for 46 runs before Andrew White (71*) and Kevin O'Brien (101*) put on 175 in 27 overs for the fifth wicket, pushing Ireland to a daunting 285 for 4. Oman, who yesterday crashed to 4 for 5, got off to a good start but from 98 for 0 they lost four wickets for five runs in 13 balls, and thereafter they were never in the hunt. Regan West, who enjoyed a fruitful warm-up campaign, did the bulk of the damage with 5 for 30, all his wickets being top six batsmen.

Canada registered their second win on the trot beating Uganda by five wickets in Johannesburg. Geoff Barnett's century helped Canada overhaul a target of 232 in the 47th over after Khurram Chauhan had starred with the ball, picking up 3 for 31. Uganda looked to be struggling with half the side gone for 91, but Kenneth Kamyuka's near run-a-ball 85, with five fours and two sixes, pushed them to a competitive total. During the chase, Barnett steadied the Canadian innings after Kamyuka's early strikes and was well supported in two fifty-plus partnerships by captain Ashish Bagai (33) and Sunil Dhaniram (39). He remained unbeaten on 102 off 123 balls, hitting nine boundaries and a six.

Neil McCallum's second consecutive hundred did not go in vain as Scotland eased to a 73-run win against Namibia in Pretoria. Having hit 121 in the previous match against Ireland, McCallum stroked 103 off 93 balls, including seven boundaries and five sixes to give Scotland their first win of the tournament. Put in by Namibia, Scotland lost three quick wickets before McCallum and Kyle Coetzer (68) added 105 for the fourth wicket to help post 267. The Namibian reply never really got going as wickets fell at regular intervals with Dewald Nel and Gordon Goudie being the wreckers-in-chief with three wickets apiece. Gerrie Snyman provided the lone resistance, hitting a 102-ball 95, comprising eight fours and three sixes, as Namibia were bowled out for 194 in the 45th over.

McCallum, who was adjudged Man of the Match, said the win was pleasing after the disappointing outing against Ireland. "I am delighted with my own form but more importantly today we got the win we wanted. I think we bowled a lot better today. Against Ireland we bowled far too much on both sides of the wicket but today was much more disciplined and thankfully we were able to defend our total. Our team talk last night was really just a good old fashioned kick up the behind and I think it worked."

Kenya bounced back from their first-day defeat by Netherlands with a rousing nine-wicket thrashing of UAE at Vanderbijlpark. UAE managed only 79, and that they made as many was only thanks to a last-wicket stand of 30. Lameck Onyango did the bulk of the damage as UAE lost nine wickets for 36, finishing with career-best figures of 6 for 14. Kenya cruised to victory in 12.2 overs, Maurice Ouma thumping ten fours in a 38-ball fifty.

It was a tale of two openers as Netherlands beat Denmark by seven wickets at Potchefstroom. Denmark's Michael Pedersen made 121 as Denmark scored 245 for 9, but he was overshadowed by the same score by Alexei Kervezee as Netherlands eased to their second win with seven overs to spare. Ryan ten Doeschate, the hero of yesterday's victory, was brought back down to earth with a second-ball duck.

Afghanistan's fairytale rumbles on as they beat Bermuda by 60 runs. Click here to read Will Luke's match report.

Group A

Team	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	N/R	Pts	Net RR	For	Against
Ireland	2	2	0	0	0	4	+1.899	518/87.4	401/100.0
Canada	2	2	0	0	0	4	+1.188	479/97.0	375/100.0
Scotland	2	1	1	0	0	2	+0.119	499/100.0	427/87.4
Uganda	2	1	1	0	0	2	-0.092	465/100.0	460/97.0
Namibia	2	0	2	0	0	0	-0.790	422/100.0	501/100.0
Oman	2	0	2	0	0	0	-2.190	313/100.0	532/100.0

Group B

Team	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	N/R	Pts	Net RR	For	Against
Afghanistan	2	2	0	0	0	4	+0.779	444/96.2	383/100.0
Netherlands	2	2	0	0	0	4	+0.610	494/89.2	492/100.0
Kenya	2	1	1	0	0	2	+1.852	327/62.2	327/96.2
U.A.E.	2	1	1	0	0	2	-1.515	269/97.1	267/62.2
Denmark	2	0	2	0	0	0	-0.559	449/100.0	451/89.2
Bermuda	2	0	2	0	0	0	-0.755	366/100.0	429/97.1

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