Scotland meet UAE in World T20 Qualifier opener

The ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier 2015 will be staged across eight venues in Ireland and Scotland from July 9 to 26. The top six sides from the 14-team and 51-game tournament will join the 10 Full Members for the ICC World Twenty20 2016, to be held in India from March 11 to April 3.

The sides that top the two groups will automatically qualify for the World Twenty20 2016. The sides that finish second and third in each of the groups will play cross-over matches with the two winners joining the table-toppers for the India tournament.

The losing sides of the two play-off matches will then play the fourth-placed sides from each of the two groups in cross-over matches with the winners completing the 16-team line-up for the World Twenty20 2016.

There will be two rounds of warm-up games on July 6 and 7 before Scotland meet UAE in the opening game of the tournament on July 9, followed by Netherlands taking on Afghanistan later in the afternoon. Malahide in Dublin and The Grange in Edinburgh will be the two broadcast venues.

The six sides that joined the 10 Full Members for the World Twenty20 2014 in Bangladesh were Afghanistan, Hong Kong, Ireland, Nepal, Netherlands and the UAE.