Cricket’s Twenty20 World Cup shows why sport should encourage upcoming nations, not deny them promotion
Cricket’s Twenty20 World Cup gets into full swing on Saturday when Australia play South Africa in Abu Dhabi and England face reigning champions West Indies in Dubai. But if you are only joining now, because England and the other supposed “big guns” are playing, you have missed a week of extraordinary action, with eight less prestigious cricketing countries fighting for places in the so-called “Super 12s” stage of the tournament.
The eight who contested the preliminary stages were a motley bunch: Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Ireland, all of which are Test-playing countries of relatively recent vintage; Scotland, which aspires to Test status and won a famous victory against England in a 50-over match in 2018; the Netherlands, where cricket has been played for two centuries and which beat England at Lord’s in the 2009 World Cup; and three true minnows – Oman, Namibia and Papua New Guinea. Namibia’s win over the Netherlands on Wednesday was in its own way as big a shock as that unexpected victory by the Dutch over England in 2009. They have deservedly qualified for the cup’s last stage.
