MUSCAT, Oman — Matthew Spoors hit an unbeaten 73 to help Canada defeat Germany by six wickets in classification play Tuesday at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier A.
The Canadian men will now face Bahrain on Thursday to decide fifth place at the eight-country tournament.
The United Arab Emirates and Ireland won their semifinals Tuesday to book their ticket to the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia later this year.
The U.A.E. defeated Nepal by 68 runs while Ireland posted a 56-run victory over Oman. Bahrain beat the Philippines by 91 runs in the classification round.
The Germans made life difficult for Canada, which reached its victory target of 132 with just three balls to spare.
Canada won the toss and elected to field first, restricting the Germans to 131 for six in their 20 overs at the Al Amerat Cricket Ground. Michael Richardson led the German batsmen with 35 runs off 33 balls before being bowled by Spoors.
Canadian bowler Salman Zafar took three wickets.
Canada lost opener Rayyan Pathan off the second ball of its innings before captain Navneet Dhaliwal and Spoors put on an 85-run stand. Dhaliwal’s exited in the 14th over after scoring 37 runs off 40.
Canada finished at 132 for four. Spoors' 55-ball inning included eight fours and two sixes.
The Canadians, who evened their tournament record at 2-2-0, missed out on the semifinals when they lost to Nepal on Monday.
“It was very tough to come back into this match after the loss" said Dhaliwal. "The energy level was certainly missing but I am happy that we could get over the line today. We deserve to win more games at this level. We will try to end the campaign on Thursday on a victorious note against Bahrain.”
Ireland and Oman qualified for the tournament by virtue of being eliminated in the first round of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2021, while Nepal and the U.A.E. booked their slots via their rankings in the ICC MRF Tyres Men's T20I Team rankings.
The other teams advanced through regional qualifying tournaments with the U.S. and Canada finishing 1-2 at the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup Americas Qualifier in November in Antigua.
Canada has never qualified for the T20 World Cup.
The ICC Men's T20 World Cup Qualifier B is scheduled for July 11-17 in Harare, with Hong Kong, Jersey, the Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Uganda, the U.S. and host Zimbabwe taking part.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 22, 2022.
The Canadian Press
