Netherlands win easy, but narrowly miss direct qualification

Netherlands 98 for 6 (Cooper 59, Ngoche 3-19) beat Kenya 97 (Obuya 33, van der Gugten 3-13) by four wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Netherlands bowled Kenya out for 97, and needed to chase the target in under eight overs to claim the top spot in Group B and gain direct qualification to the World T20 in India. But their four-wicket victory took a few balls too many.

After seven overs, Netherlands were 80 for 3 and needed 18 more runs. Ben Cooper went 6 4 6, but was stumped off the fourth ball for a belligerent 59 off 24. The new batsman Max O'Dowd bagged a golden duck and Michael Swart managed only a single off the last ball. Netherlands managed 17 runs off the over, one short of the requirement.

That left Netherlands tied with Scotland and Afghanistan on eight points, but Scotland by virtue of a higher run-rate finish as league leaders and have confirmed their progress to the World T20.

In a group of fine margins, Kenya would have qualified for the World T20 as well had they won. They would have then finished at the top with nine points, but instead their tournament was prematurely ended, after failing to qualify for next week's playoffs. Although they were tied on seven points with Oman. The heavy margin of defeat ensured they finished fifth - below Oman due to a lower net run-rate.

Kenya were asked to bat and struggled from the outset, losing three wickets in the first 15 balls. Collins Obuya did his best with 33 off 44 balls, but the innings never gained any momentum. His 45-run stand with Morris Ouma(16) was the only significant partnership.

Obuya was sixth man out in the 16th over with the score on 82 and Netherlands shot through the tail 15 runs later. Timm van der Gugten picked up figures of 3 for 13 while Swart and Michael Rippon picked up two wickets each.

The chase began a little unsteadily with Stephan Myburgh caught in the second over but Cooper and Wesley Barresi took charge of the chase - smashing 61 runs in 31 balls. It wasn't enough to go through punch their World T20 ticket tonight, but they have qualified for the playoffs and still have a chance of making it.