The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup’s first round is just a few days away and for the teams in the round, there is a warm-up stage to assist preparations. The teams are divided into two groups for the first round, due to begin on 17 October. One group contains Sri Lanka, Netherlands, Namibia, Ireland, and the other contains Papua New Guinea, Oman, Bangladesh, Scotland. The top two teams from each group join the top-eight ranked teams in the next round.
Warm-up: Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh: Bangladesh managed 147 runs batting first, courtesy of Soumya Sarkar who made 34 runs off 26 balls. The second-highest score came from Liton Das and Mehdi Hasan who made 16 runs each. Dushmanta Chameera clasped three wickets for 27 runs.
Then in the chase, Sri Lanka lost the way, needing 69 runs off 8 overs with only four wickets in hand. However, the newly-emerging Chamika Karunaratne and Avishka Fernando saw them through. Avishka made 62 off 42 balls while Karunaratne 29 off 25 balls.
Warm-up: the Netherlands vs Scotland: Scotland eked out a 32 runs victory over the Netherlands in a low-scoring match. Batting first, the Scottish men made just 122 runs, Calum McLeod who made 32 runs, whereas, Michale Leask contributed 30 runs. The Netherlands bundled out for just 90 with their two most experienced batters Roelef van der Merwe and Ryan ten Doeschate unable to make an impact.
