Van der Westhuizen smashes 51-ball century

Louis van der Westhuizen continued his fine form with the bat when the 23-year-old smashed his way to the first century of the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier UAE 2012 at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.

His unbeaten 54-ball 106 which was laced with eight boundaries and eight sixes against Scotland helped Namibia to its second victory in as many days following on from their opening day win over favourites Ireland.

In a Group B match, van der Westhuizen’s knock helped Namibia put up 192-3 in its 20 overs. Scotland, in its chase, finished 49 runs short when it ended up at 143-8.

In another impressive performance of the day, Nepal’s wrist-spinner Shakti Gauchan claimed a hat-trick in a spell of four for 20 to lead his side to victory over Denmark by nine wickets in a Group A encounter. Gauchan claimed the wickets of Rizwan Mahmood, Aftab Ahmed and Kamran Mahmood in the 13th over of the Denmark innings to record the first hat-trick of the ongoing tournament.

A thrilled Gauchan said: “I have taken one hat-trick in domestic cricket before, but this is my first international hat-trick. It was a very good time to take a hat-trick in a match for me. When I took my hat-trick, I ran away from the wicket and slid on my chest like a football player."

In the other matches of the day in Group A, defending champion Afghanistan beat Netherlands by four wickets after a fine half-century by Mohammad Shahzad, Canada registered a seven-wicket win over Papua New Guinea (PNG), Uganda scripted its second hard-fought win when it defeated Oman and Hong Kong surprised ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 qualifier Bermuda by eight wickets.

In Group B results, Ireland registered a comprehensive 10-wicket win over Kenya at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Italy scored a narrow eight run win over USA, also in Abu Dhabi.

The first centurion of the tournament, van der Westhuizen, teamed up well with Raymond van Schoor to put on 92 for the second wicket before he departed. Later, former captain Craig Williams combined with the centurion to add another 52 runs. Van der Westhuizen added to his fine performance with the bat by snaffling two wickets in the Scotland innings.

Man of the match Louis van der Westhuizen said: “I really feel that I am seeing the ball well and hitting it with confidence. The confidence of the side is high and we have a really good team spirit which means I feel like I have the freedom to play. We had two big games up first (Ireland and Scotland) and to win those were our first goals and from now on it is game by game for us."

Scores in brief

Group A

Canada v PNG at Global Cricket Academy No.1, Dubai Sports City

Canada 167-5, 20 overs (Nitish Kumar 57, Hiral Patel 34, Jimmy Hansra 22)

PNG 161-3, 20 overs (Asad Vala 52, Geraint Jones 32, Madhuru Dai 30 not out)

Result: Canada won by seven wickets

Man of the match Nitish Kumar (Canada)

Hong Kong v Bermuda at Global Cricket Academy No.2, Dubai Sports City

Bermuda 161-5, 20 overs (David Hemp 43, Janeiro Tucker 31, Curt Stovell 29; Munir Dar 2-33)

Hong Kong 164-2, 17.3 overs (James Atkinson 87 not out, Irfan Ahmed 50)

Result: Hong Kong won by 8 wickets

Man of the match James Atkinson (Hong Kong)

Afghanistan v Netherlands at Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai Sports City

Netherlands 149-6, 20 overs (Alexei Kervezee 58 n.o.; Izatullah Dawlatzai 3-33)

Afghanistan 150-6, 19.4 overs (Mohammad Shahzad 54, Nawroz Mangal 26, Mohammad Nabi 22; Mudassar Bukhari 2-12, Ahsan Malik 2-32)

Result: Afghanistan won by four wickets

Man of the Match: Mohammad Shahzad (Afghanistan)

Denmark v Nepal at Global Cricket Academy Oval No.1, Dubai Sports City

Denmark 82 all out, 19.2 overs (Freddie Klokker 21; Shakti Gauchan 4-20, Prithu Baskota 2-4)

Nepal 85-1, 12.4 overs (Pradeep Airee 65 not out)

Result: Nepal won by nine wickets

Man of the match: Shakti Gauchan (Nepal)

Uganda v Oman at Global Cricket Academy Oval No.2, Dubai Sports City

Oman 128-8, 20 overs (Zeeshan Siddique 30, Jatinder Singh 21, Amir Ali 19; Davis Arinaitwe 3-21, Jonathan Sebanja 2-20)

Uganda 132-7, 19.1 overs (Roger Mukasa 45, Arthur Ziraba 26, Frank Nsubuga 21; Zeeshan Siddique 3-21, Amir Ali 2-6)

Result: Uganda won by three wickets

Man of the match: Roger Mukasa (Uganda)

Group B

Ireland v Kenya at Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai

Kenya: 71, 19 overs (Tanmay Mishra 28; Boyd Rankin 3-20, Alex Cusack 2-5, John Mooney 2-11, George Dockrell 2-14)

Ireland 72-0, 7.2 overs (William Porterfield 56 n.o.)

Result: Ireland won by 10 wickets

Man of the Match: Boyd Rankin (Ireland)

Scotland v Namibia at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Namibia 192-3, 20 overs (Louis van der Westhuizen 106 not out; Gordon Drummond 1-37)

Scotland 143-8, 20 overs (Richie Berrington 31, Majid Haq 27 not out; Louis Klazinga 2-34, Louis van der Westhuizen 2-16, Raymond van Schoor 2-11)

Result: Namibia won by 49 runs

Man of the match: Louis van der Westhuizen (Namibia)

Italy v USA at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Italy 137-6, 20 overs (Carl Sandri 49 not out, Damian Crowley 26; Muhammad Ghous 2-18)

USA 129-8, 20 overs (Asif Khan 35 not out, Aditya Mishra 25; Carl Sandri 2-32, Vince Pennazza 2-11)

Result: Italy won by eight runs

Man on of the match: Carl Sandri (Italy)

Thursday’s matches

Canada v Hong Kong (1000-1300), Global Cricket Academy Oval No.1, Dubai Sports City
Namibia v USA (1000-1300), Global Cricket Academy Oval No.2, Dubai Sports City
Ireland v Italy (1000-1300), Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Afghanistan v Denmark (1000-1300), Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah
Scotland v Uganda (1400-1700), Global Cricket Academy Oval No.1, Dubai Sports City
Kenya v Oman (1400-1700), Global Cricket Academy Oval No.2, Dubai Sports City
Netherlands v Bermuda (1400-1700), Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi
PNG v Nepal (1400-1700), Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah

World Twenty20 qualifying tables after Wednesday's second round of matches (played, won, lost, tied, no-result, points, net run rate):

Group A
Nepal             2 2 0 0 0 4 +1.982
Afghanistan       2 2 0 0 0 4 +0.277
Netherlands       2 1 1 0 0 2 +0.974
Hong Kong         2 1 1 0 0 2 -0.182
Canada            2 1 1 0 0 2 -0.900
Denmark           2 1 1 0 0 2 -1.072
Papua New Guinea  2 0 2 0 0 0 -0.354
Bermuda           2 0 2 0 0 0 -0.739

Group B
Namibia           2 2 0 0 0 4 +1.325
Italy             2 2 0 0 0 4 +1.226
Uganda            2 2 0 0 0 4 +0.374
Ireland           2 1 1 0 0 2 +2.566
Scotland          2 1 1 0 0 2 -0.875
USA               2 0 2 0 0 0 -0.336
Oman              2 0 2 0 0 0 -1.268
Kenya             2 0 2 0 0 0 -3.271