The 2017 Desert T20 Challenge[1] was an international Twenty20 International (T20I) cricket tournament that was held in Dubai and Abu Dhabi from 14 to 20 January 2017.[2][3] The eight Associate Members of the International Cricket Council that have T20I status were scheduled to take part.[2] However, Papua New Guinea declined to participate and were replaced by Namibia (who did not have T20I status at the time).[4] Therefore, matches with Namibia were played as Twenty20 matches.
| Dates | 14 – 20 January 2017 |
|---|---|
| Administrator(s) | ICC |
| Cricket format | Twenty20 International Twenty20 |
| Tournament format(s) | Round-robin, finals |
| Host(s) |  UAE |
| Champions |  Afghanistan |
| Participants | 8 |
| Matches | 15 |
| Player of the series | Mohammad Nabi |
| Most runs | Mohammad Shahzad (207) |
| Most wickets |  Jacob Mulder (10) |
The fixtures for the tournament were confirmed by the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) in December 2016.[5] The eight teams were split into two groups of four teams, with Afghanistan, Ireland, Namibia and the United Arab Emirates in Group A and Netherlands, Scotland, Oman and Hong Kong in Group B.[5] The semi-finals and final of the tournament took place at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on 20 January.[6]
Afghanistan and Ireland qualified from Group A and Scotland and Oman qualified from Group B for the finals stage of the tournament.[7] Afghanistan beat Ireland by 10 wickets in the final match to win the tournament.[8][9]
Teams
editSquads
edit| Afghanistan[10] Coach: Lalchand Rajput |
 Hong Kong[11]Coach: Simon Cook |
Ireland[12] Coach: John Bracewell |
 Namibia[10]Coach: Dee Thakur |
|---|---|---|---|
 Netherlands[13]Coach: Chris Adams |
 Oman[14]Coach: Duleep Mendis |
 Scotland[15]Coach: Grant Bradburn |
United Arab Emirates[16] Coach: Owais Shah |
Before the tournament started, both Andrew Balbirnie and Stuart Thompson were ruled out of Ireland's squad due to injury. They were replaced by Stuart Poynter and Lorcan Tucker respectively.[17]
Fixtures
editGroup A
edit| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | NR | Pts | NRR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Afghanistan
|
3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1.419 |
| 2 | Ireland
|
3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0.319 |
| 3 | United Arab Emirates
|
3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | −0.552 |
| 4 | Namibia
|
3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | −1.177 |
Qualified to Finals
v
|
||
- Ireland won the toss and elected to bat.
v
|
||
- Namibia won the toss and elected to bat.
v
|
||
- Ireland won the toss and elected to bat.
Group B
edit| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | NR | Pts | NRR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Scotland
|
3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0.666 |
| 2 | Oman
|
3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0.890 |
| 3 | Hong Kong
|
3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | −0.005 |
| 4 | Netherlands
|
3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | −1.529 |
Qualified to Finals
v
|
||
- Scotland won the toss and elected to bat.
- Ahmed Shah Pakteen (Afg) stood in his first T20I as an umpire.
- Richie Berrington and Calum MacLeods' third-wicket partnership of 127 runs was Scotland's highest partnership for any wicket in T20Is.[18]
v
|
||
- Oman won the toss and elected to bat.
- Alex Dowdalls (Sco) stood in his first T20I as an umpire.
- Aqib Ilyas, Kaleemullah, Khurram Nawaz, Naseem Khushi and Arun Poulose (Oman) all made their T20I debuts.
v
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- Oman won the toss and elected to field.
v
|
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- Netherlands won the toss and elected to field.
v
|
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- Hong Kong won the toss and elected to bat.
Finals
editv
|
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- Afghanistan won the toss and elected to field.
v
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- Scotland won the toss and elected to field.
v
|
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Mohammad Shahzad 52* (40)
|
- Ireland won the toss and elected to bat.
- Nawroz Mangal captained Afghanistan in his final match, with the regular captain Asghar Stanikzai also playing in the match.[19]
- Mohammad Shahzad (Afg) became first person to score two half-centuries in two separate international matches on the same day.[20]
Statistics
editMost runs
edit| Player | Matches | Innings | Runs | Average | SR | HS | 100 | 50 | 4s | 6s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mohammad Shahzad
|
5 | 5 | 207 | 51.75 | 121.76 | 80 | 0 | 2 | 26 | 6 |
| Gary Wilson
|
5 | 5 | 155 | 51.66 | 156.56 | 65* | 0 | 1 | 15 | 5 |
| Paul Stirling
|
5 | 5 | 152 | 30.40 | 128.81 | 60 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 5 |
| Calum MacLeod
|
4 | 4 | 117 | 39.00 | 131.46 | 60 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 4 |
| Shaiman Anwar
|
3 | 3 | 110 | 36.66 | 100.00 | 66* | 0 | 2 | 9 | 2 |
| Source: ESPN Cricinfo[21] | ||||||||||
Most wickets
edit| Player | Matches | Innings | Wickets | Overs | Econ. | Ave. | BBI | S/R | 4WI | 5WI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jacob Mulder
|
5 | 5 | 10 | 18 | 5.66 | 10.20 | 4/16 | 10.80 | 1 | 0 |
| Rashid Khan
|
5 | 5 | 9 | 16.2 | 3.61 | 6.55 | 3/4 | 10.80 | 0 | 0 |
| Amir Hamza
|
4 | 4 | 7 | 16 | 4.81 | 11.00 | 2/15 | 13.70 | 0 | 0 |
| Mohammad Nabi
|
5 | 5 | 7 | 16.2 | 5.69 | 13.28 | 4/10 | 14.00 | 1 | 0 |
| Bilal Khan
|
4 | 4 | 7 | 13.5 | 8.45 | 16.71 | 3/18 | 11.80 | 0 | 0 |
| Source: ESPN Cricinfo[22] | ||||||||||
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Associates gear up to make big statements in Desert T20 Challenge". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
- ^ a b "Eight-team Associate T20I tournament slated for January". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
- ^ "Desert T20 Tournament to be held in UAE in January". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 6 January 2017.
- ^ "Namibia to compete in Dubai T20 tournament". The Namibian. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
- ^ a b "Inaugural Desert T20 Tournament to start January 14th 2017 in the United Arab Emirates". Emirates Cricket Board. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
- ^ "Ireland to face Afghanistan in Desert T20 opener in Abu Dhabi on 14 January". BBC Sport. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
- ^ "Unbeaten Afghanistan, Scotland top groups". International Cricket Council. Archived from the original on 20 January 2017. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
- ^ "Nabi, Shahzad demolish Ireland". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 20 January 2017.
- ^ "Ireland thrashed by Afghanistan in Desert T20 Challenge final". BBC Sport. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
- ^ a b "Desert T20 schedule finally released" (PDF). Cricket Namibia. Retrieved 6 January 2017.
- ^ "Hong Kong announce squad for Desert T20 tournament in UAE". Cricket Hong Kong. Archived from the original on 26 December 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
- ^ "Ireland Welcome Back Trio For Desert T20". Cricket Ireland. Retrieved 13 December 2016.
- ^ "Netherlands announce squads for Hong Kong and Desert T20". Cricket Europe. Archived from the original on 6 October 2018. Retrieved 5 December 2016.
- ^ "Oman Cricket expects recalled Sultan to deliver as captain". Times of Oman. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
- ^ "Coetzer to lead Scots to Desert T20". Cricket Scotland. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
- ^ "Emirates Cricket Board announce team to represent the UAE in their Inaugural Desert T20 Tournament's first game". Emirates Cricket Board. Retrieved 3 January 2017.
- ^ "Double Injury Blow For Ireland Ahead Of Desert T20". Cricket Ireland. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
- ^ "MacLeod, Berrington trump Hong Kong with record stand". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
- ^ "Man of the Decade". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
- ^ "Incredible Shahzad blasts way into history". cricket.com.au. Retrieved 22 January 2017.
- ^ "Records / Desert T20 Challenge 2017 / Most runs". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
- ^ "Records / Desert T20 Challenge 2017 / Most wickets". ESPN Cricinfo. 21 January 2017.