Friday 20 May 2011

Chapter 2:-Americas Division 3 (T20) Championship 2011, World Twenty20 Qualifier

After the ICC Africa Div 3 where 3 countries made their debut i.e. Cameroon, Seychelles, Mali then came Americas Div 2 where this time Falkland Islands were making their debut. It was a tournament where 6 teams were taking part :- Belize, Panama, Mexico, Chile, Debutants Falkland Islands and Hosts Costa Rica.

The format was simple, all teams were in one pool and the Top teams qualifies for Div 2. The favorites for the tournament were Belize. Many people had high hopes from Falkland Islands as they though they being a British colony would have cricket culture somewhat similar to Seychelles did in Africa Div 3.

The teams of Belize and Falkland Islands were former British colonies and inherited the cricket culture from there. Mexico, Chile, Costa Rica and Peru teams were full of expats from South Asia or Aus/NZ or Eng and they were the one's that have introduced cricket there.

The points tally of the tournament went as follows

TEAM               P   W   L   Pts    NRR
Belize             5   5   0   10     3.32
Peru               5   4   1    8     1.79
Chile              5   3   2    6    -0.07
Mexico             5   2   3    4    -1.01
Costa Rica         5   1   4    2    -1.59
Falkland Islands   5   0   5    0    -4.36



As expected the team of Belize dominated the tournament thrashing teams all around. Peru team full of expats also did well just loosing to Belize and coming a impressive second. Falkland Islands dashed he hopes of many. They lost all the matches and most of them very badly. The hosts Costa Rica could not take any advantage of them being hosts. They won just 1 match against the weak debutants Falkland Islands and lost to all other teams.

The final results were
Winner and qualify for Americas Div 2 T20
1. Belize

2. Peru
3. Chile
4. Mexico
5. Costa Rica
6. Falkland Islands

This tournament helped to raise the profile of game in Costa Rica. With time I hope more countries are able to host the tournament and Cricket gains the foothold in the media too. 16 nation T20 WC should definitely help the spread of cricket. I hope ICC turns the 50 over WC into a 12 nation too.

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