2010 Twenty20 Qualification

England Qualification - Twenty20 World Cup The 10 Cricket Council (International) test-playing nations qualified automatically for the 2010 Twenty20 World Cup.

This left two positions at the tournament open to the Cricket Council (International) Associate member nations, who were given the opportunity to qualify for the 2010 Twenty20 World Cup in a special qualifying tournament played in the United Arab Emirates.

The 2010 Cricket Council (International) World Twenty20 Qualifier

The 2010 Cricket Council (International) World Twenty Twenty20 Qualifier was the largest qualifying tournament for the T20 World Cup to date. Eight Cricket Council (International) Associate members competed in the event with teams divided into two groups of four. Each group then contested a series of round robin matches between group members before the top two in each group progressed to the ‘Super 4′ stage of the tournament.

The top two teams in the Super 4 pool, Ireland and Aghansitan, automatically qualified for the 2010 T20 World Cup. However, the teams also contested a final to establish the tournament winner.

The standard of the tournament was far higher than in previous years, and most teams displayed significant improvements in both batting and strategy at the tournament. Every team in the tournament achieved a score of over 100 runs, with Group B in particular producing some stand-out matches as every team in the group achieved a total in excess of 140 at least once.

The matches were also notable for being highly competitive, exciting events. Five of the group stage matches were won by a margin of ten points or less, and Ireland was hugely impressive in becoming the first associate nation to top 200 runs when it beat the United States in a Group A fixture by scoring 202/4.

2010 T20 World Cup Qualifier Final

There is little doubt that Afghanistan was the team of the tournament at the 2010 World T20 Qualifier tournament.

The Afghans were beaten just once at the tournament, and easily qualified for the final against Ireland. In the final, the experienced Ireland team scored a first innings total of 142/8, setting Afghanistan a tough run chase of more than 6 runs an over.

The Afghans were up to the task, however, chasing down the Irish total with 15 balls to spare and securing their first Cricket Council (International) title with a 6 off the final ball of the match. The win consolidated a meteoric rise up the cricketing ranks by the rapidly improving Afghanistan national cricket team.