Eight into four doesn't go - the competition heats up

Super Eight stage gets underway tomorrow with four places at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 still up for grabs but with some teams already enjoying a distinct advantage Live ball-by-ball scoring from all matches throughout the 19-day tournament is offered on the event website; free-to-use photos available from the tournament while Getty Images is also attending one match per day; video clips available on event websiteAnd then there were eight. With four places on offer at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, half the teams left in the qualifying tournament will be there.

But some teams are more equal than others. Such is the points structure where wins gained in the group stage against other sides that make it into the Super Eight are carried through, Ireland enjoys a lead at the top of the table with a maximum six points.

Next, Netherlands, Canada, Kenya and the UAE form a quartet of teams on four points, all jostling for position with Scotland breathing down their necks on two points. Behind them, Afghanistan and Namibia have it all to do having not carried through any points to this crucial part of the tournament.

Meanwhile, the four teams that didn’t get this far – Denmark, Uganda, Oman and Bermuda – head off to Potchefstroom for play-off matches knowing that their World Cup dream is over for another four years.

With the pressure now well and truly on, Saturday will offer up some fascinating games with the pick of them possibly being Scotland v Netherlands at WITS University ground. Defending champion Scotland has underperformed so far in the tournament and the players will know that nothing but a win against the Dutch will be good enough.

For Jeroen Smits’s men, there can be no let up from the performances that led to wins over Bermuda, Denmark, Kenya and Afghanistan with his batsmen, in particular, putting together some classy innings in those games.

Elsewhere, if Namibia is going to get its qualification campaign off the ground, it will have to beat the UAE at LC de Villiers Oval, Pretoria while the Afghans have a tough fixture with Ireland at Stan Friedman Oval, Krugersdorp. Norooz Mangal and his boys can take some encouragement from the fact that influential Ireland all-rounder Andre Botha has had to pull out due to an ankle injury.

Another juicy tie will be Canada v Kenya at Benoni as the North Americans will have to do without their inspirational all-rounder John Davison, who is on his way home after suffering a tear to his calf muscle. Davison’s batting has been a big factor in his team’s recent success (his 131 off fewer than 100 balls, for example, was instrumental in Canada’s victory over Namibia in the group stage) while he also usually manages to bowl 10 overs of parsimonious off-spin.

His contribution will be sorely missed but that said, he has not been the only Canada player in form, with significant contributions offered by the likes of Geoff Barnett, Ian Billcliff and Ashish Bagai with the bat and Umar Bhatti, Henry Osinde and Balaji Dorakanti with ball in hand.

Meanwhile, after losing its first group match to the Netherlands, Kenya has been quietly going about its business and will be feeling confident heading to Willowmoore Park so expect a tough encounter there.

All matches get underway at 0930 (local time, 0730 GMT) with live scoring available at http://iccworldcupqualifier.yahoo.net.

Remaining fixtures:

11 April
Super Eight
CANADA v KENYA (Willowmoore Park, Benoni); NAMIBIA v UAE (LC de Villiers Oval, Pretoria); IRELAND v AFGHANISTAN (Stan Friedman Oval, Krugersdorp); SCOTLAND v NETHERLANDS (WITS University)

Ninth-12th-place play-offs
UGANDA v DENMARK (Potchefstroom Cricket Ground); OMAN v BERMUDA (Potchefstroom University)
12 April – Easter Sunday

13 April
Super Eight
NAMIBIA v NETHERLANDS (Willowmoore Park, Benoni); CANADA v AFGHANISTAN (LC de Villiers Oval, Pretoria); SCOTLAND v KENYA (Stan Friedman Oval, Krugersdorp); IRELAND v UAE (WITS University)

Ninth/10th-place play-off (Potchefstroom Cricket Ground), 11th/12th-place play-off (Potchefstroom University)

14 April – Reserve/training day
15 April
Super Eight
SCOTLAND v AFGHANISTAN (Willowmoore Park, Benoni); IRELAND v NETHERLANDS (LC de Villiers Oval, Pretoria); CANADA v UAE (Stan Friedman Oval, Krugersdorp); NAMIBIA v KENYA (WITS University)

16 April – Reserve/training day

17 April
Super Eight
SCOTLAND v UAE (Willowmoore Park, Benoni); IRELAND v KENYA (LC de Villiers Oval, Pretoria); NAMIBIA v AFGHANISTAN (Stan Friedman Oval, Krugersdorp); CANADA v NETHERLANDS (WITS University)

18 April – Reserve/training day

19 April
Final (ODI, Centurion); third/fourth-place play-off (ODI, Potchefstroom Cricket Ground); fifth/sixth-place play-off (ODI, Willowmoore Park, Benoni); seventh/eighth-place play-off (LC de Villiers Oval, Pretoria)

The ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier match schedule can be found at http://icccricket.yahoo.com/cwcq/fixtures.html.