Ireland and Canada qualify for Super Eights

John Davison repeated his heroics from the 2003 World Cup, smashing a blistering 131 off just 99 balls to help Canada inflict a massive 141-run defeat over Namibia in Pretoria and qualify for the Super Eights. Davison made Namibia regret their decision to field, attacking from the outset and received excellent support from Geoff Barnett and Ian Billcliff, who contributed 46 and 61 respectively to bat the opposition out of the match. The Canada bowlers didn't take too long to make inroads into the Namibian batting, leaving them tottering at 85 for 8 before a 70-run stand between Sarel Burger and Ian van Zyl helped salvage a better, yet disappointing, score. Four Canadian bowlers bagged two wickets each, with Umar Bhatti proving the most economical with 2 for 22.

Davison, after his blazing innings, stressed the need to play in a similar manner against tougher opposition. "The goal was to get through to the next round, which we have done now, but it would be great to knock off both Ireland and Scotland. I fully believe we can do that if we play this sort of cricket. I think we can go all the way," Davison said. "It was a great place to bat out there. The ball was hitting the middle of the bat quite regularly. I played with a bit of restraint early and then it went pretty well after that.

"Up to now in the tournament I've probably been going a bit hard too early, which is easy to do when you're batting with (Rizwan) Cheema because he likes to have a go. I just need to play my own game, I think, and not get caught up in what he's doing."

Oman came excruciatingly close to pulling off a major upset against Scotland in Johannesburg . Chasing a stiff target of 275, Oman were given a rousing start from Maqsood Hussain (70 from 30 balls) but lost steam in the middle order. Zeeshan Siddiqui (50) and Nileshkumar Parmar (37) waged a brave resistance but Scotland's bowlers regrouped, led by four-wicket man Jan Stander, and pipped a dramatic nine-run win. Stander stuck to tight lines and picked up 4 for 41. Scotland's total owed to Kyle Coetzer's 127 from 141 balls and 79 to Navdeep Poonia, who steadied the ship after a wobble. Their third-wicket stand of 136 was the core of the Scotland innings. The victory was Scotland's second from their three group matches and kept them well on target to progress to the Super Eights.

Ireland won their third consecutive game of the competition and confirmed their progression to the next round, beating Uganda convincingly by six wickets in Krugersdorp. Only three of Uganda's batsmen managed to reach double-figures as the Ireland bowlers, led by Andrew White's 4 for 22, tore through the batting line-up. Only the captain Junior Kewbiha, who made 51, and Joel Olwenyi putting up any resistance. Ireland made easy work of their target of 157 with the captain William Porterfield (44) and Gary Wilson (61) scoring runs freely to help their team achieve its target in just the 31st over.

Afghanistan, perhaps the most closely-followed team in this tournament, were stopped short for the first time by Kenya in Potchefstroom, as they faltered in pursuit of a challenging target of 283 to be bowled out for 175. Kenya put in a collective bowling display with Thomas Odoyo, who picked 3 for 29, backed by the rest of the attack. Six out of seven bowlers managed to pick at least a wicket each. Mohammad Nabi made a defiant 56 but received little help from the other end. Kenya's imposing total was largely a result of an unbeaten 109 by opener Kennedy Otieno, who struck 11 fours and a six in his 136-ball knock. Alex Obanda made 60, and the rest of the middle-order chipped in with useful contributions in the death overs to make Afghanistan's task all the more difficult.

A four-wicket haul by offspinner Rodney Trott and an unbeaten 76 from opener David Hemp helped Bermuda register their first win of the tournament, as they beat Denmark comfortably by nine wickets in Vanderbijlpark. Denmark, after being asked to bat, started off soundly with the openers adding 33, but the seamers Janeiro Tucker and Jacobi Robinson triggered a collapse as the next five wickets fell for 35 runs. The sixth-wicket pair of Bobby Chawla and Thomas Hansen did show some resistance but Trott ran through the tail to skittle Denmark out for a paltry 157. The foundation for an easy run-chase was laid by an opening stand of 82 between Fiqre Crockwell and Hemp, who added a further 78 with Steven Outerbridge to seal victory with almost 12 overs to spare.

United Arab Emirates edged past Netherlands, beating them by two wickets in a thrilling encounter at Senwes Park. Chasing a testing target of 266, the UAE innings was given impetus by a third-wicket stand of 94 between Nithin Gopal (51) and Saqib Ali (78). Though they lost a couple of quick wickets after that, their lower order chipped in with useful contributions, especially Fayyaz Ahmed who remained unbeaten on 25 and Zahid Shah, who made 21 off as many balls. Netherlands will be ruing the fact that they conceded 28 extras, eventually proving decisive in the outcome. Their innings was boosted by half-centuries from Bas Zuiderant and Eric Szwarczynski, and a quickfire 32 from Edgar Schiferli. Though Zahid Shah took 4 for 53, Netherlands had posted a sizable score. However, a determined run-chase, thanks to some lower-order spunk from UAE, stopped them in their tracks in the last over.

Group A

Team	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	N/R	Pts	Net RR	For	Against
Ireland	3	3	0	0	0	6	+2.007	678/118.4	556/150.0
Canada	3	3	0	0	0	6	+1.742	798/147.0	553/150.0
Scotland	3	2	1	0	0	4	+0.127	773/150.0	692/137.4
Uganda	3	1	2	0	0	2	-0.710	620/150.0	620/128.0
Namibia	3	0	3	0	0	0	-1.467	600/150.0	820/150.0
Oman	3	0	3	0	0	0	-1.520	578/150.0	806/150.0

Group B

Team	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	N/R	Pts	Net RR	For	Against
Kenya	3	2	1	0	0	4	+1.991	609/112.2	502/146.2
Netherlands	3	2	1	0	0	4	+0.352	759/139.2	760/149.1
Afghanistan	3	2	1	0	0	4	-0.203	619/146.2	665/150.0
U.A.E.	3	2	1	0	0	4	-1.066	537/146.2	532/112.2
Bermuda	3	1	2	0	0	2	-0.175	526/138.1	586/147.1
Denmark	3	0	3	0	0	0	-0.752	606/150.0	611/127.3