Afghanistan cruises into the ICC World Twenty20 Sri Lanka 2012

Afghanistan has secured its place at the ICC World Twenty20 Sri Lanka 2012 after the side beat Namibia in the first qualifying final of the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier UAE 2012 by 47 runs at Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

Afghanistan's victory over Namibia sees the side join the ICC World Twenty20 for the second tournament in row after the team qualified and competed in the ICC World Twenty20 West Indies 2010. While Afghanistan, as the winner of Thursday afternoon's match, qualify for the tournament proper, the second and final qualifier will emerge on the morning of 24 March when Namibia will take on the winner of the Preliminary Final (to be played between Netherlands and Ireland) on the morning of the same day at DICS.

In the tournament finale at the DICS on 24 March, the two qualifiers will square-off against each other and at stake will be the winner's trophy as well as the placing in the Sri Lanka tournament. The tournament winner will join Australia and the West Indies in Group B while the losing team will complete Group A which also includes defending champion England and 2007 winner India.

Namibia captain Sarel Burger was the pick of his side's bowlers in limiting Afghanistan to 146 in its 20 overs in front of a vocal and supportive Afghanistan fanbase. Despite Burger's performance, Afghanistan raced away to 57 without loss until Karim Sadiq was removed by Burger after being caught and bowled by the Namibian skipper.

The middle-order didn't quite kick-off as planned, however Asghar Stanikzai and Mohammad Nabi added to the Afghan total to ensure it was a defendable target by the side.

In reply, Namibia's Raymond van Schoor departed for a golden duck after Dawlat Zadran rearranged his stumps, Gerrie Snyman and Craig Williams, two in-form batsmen for Namibia, were sent packing shortly after and Namibia were reeling on 13 runs. Things didn't get much better for the African side and ultimately they were 99 all out in 18.1 overs were up - much to the delight of Afghanistan and its supporters. Dawlat was the star of the bowling attack for Afghanistan claiming three wickets for a mere five runs as he combined with Aftab Alam (4-25) to dismiss Namibia's line-up, couple the bowling performances with some nifty run-outs from wicketkeeper Mohammad Shahzad, Afghanistan secured its place in the ICC World Twenty20 Sri Lanka 2012.

Namibia captain Burger said post-match: "The first six overs I think I think we were a bit under pressure with them coming quite hard. But I think after the first six we caught up quite nicely and we brought down the run rate quite nicely. To the end of the innings I think it all went according to plan; the fielding and bowling department. But the start of our batting innings, things got a bit under pressure there by losing 3 or 4 wickets in the first six overs. When you lose 3 or 4 wickets in the first six you are always trying to catch up, and in a short format, you don't have a lot of time to catch up. We couldn't really catch up the run rate, it was running away from us, and you can't catch up in a small amount of time in Twenty20 cricket."

"I think we're on a roll at the moment, we just need to take this one on the chin, and get up and go forwards for the next game. It's our first loss in the tournament. I think that's already motivation for the guys. I think between the team management, myself and the senior players, we'll just need to lift the guys up, but I think it will actually motivate our guys even more to go hard at the next game."

"The whole tournament, Afghanistan has been top notch bowling. So we knew they had a good bowling attack, but we still backed ourselves with the batting. By losing that couple of wickets in the first over, that already puts pressure on you."

Afghanistan captain Nawroz Mangal commented: "It's a really big day for us and for the team. Coming to this tournament as defending champion puts a little bit of pressure on the team, especially in this shorter format of 20 overs, it's everybody's game. But still the boys have done really well and have proved themselves that they are the true deserving winners and they are the deserving team to go to the World Twenty20."

Coach of Afghanistan Kabir Khan added: "It is a moment of very big happiness for us; for me, and for the country, and the history, and the future of the country's cricket as well. I think today's game was all about pressure. Both of us won all our pool games. And both of us won quite comfortably. I would say at one stage it looked like 140 was not enough, but I think crowd, camera and all the camera played a role, and obviously the guys kept their nerve and stuck to the task.

"Our plan was to show the strength of our bench. We said two years ago that we wanted a stronger bench and stronger placements as well. We were missing some of our main cricket players today, but still you can see how the boys played. The depth we've got is the talent we've got back home, and we've got to improve that. Dawlat Zadran is outstanding to be honest. I rated him very high right from the beginning.

"In the rankings we are above the West Indies at the moment, but we have to prove that when we play them. But we have some time on our hands so we have to prepare really well, we have to shape up the boys, we have to make a very good bunch of boys to take to the World Twenty20."

"Not only do we want to win at the World Twenty20, we want to have a very good tournament and play to our full strength, and give full and tough matches to the opposition. If we win one or two, I don't mind, but if we lose, we want to lose in a way that we are giving 100 per cent."

Afghanistan beats Namibia by 47 runs at Dubai International Cricket Stadium

Afghanistan 146 all out, 20 overs (Karim Sadiq 28, Javed Ahmadi 24; Sarel Burger 3-16, Christi Viljoen 3-34)

Namibia 99 all out, 18.1 overs (Sarel Burger 22, Nicholaas Scholtz 22; Aftab Alam 4-25, Dawlat Zadran 3-5)

Man of the Match: Dawlat Zadran (Afghanistan)