2017 Desert T20 Challenge

2017 Desert T20 Challenge
Dates14 – 20 January 2017
Administrator(s)ICC
Cricket formatTwenty20 International
Twenty20
Tournament format(s)Round-robin, finals
Host(s) UAE
Champions Afghanistan
Participants8
Matches15
Player of the seriesAfghanistan Mohammad Nabi
Most runsAfghanistan Mohammad Shahzad (207)
Most wicketsIreland Jacob Mulder (10)

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.

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]

  1. ^ "Associates gear up to make big statements in Desert T20 Challenge". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  2. ^ a b "Eight-team Associate T20I tournament slated for January". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
  3. ^ "Desert T20 Tournament to be held in UAE in January". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 6 January 2017.
  4. ^ "Namibia to compete in Dubai T20 tournament". The Namibian. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  5. ^ a b "Inaugural Desert T20 Tournament to start January 14th 2017 in the United Arab Emirates". Emirates Cricket Board. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
  6. ^ "Ireland to face Afghanistan in Desert T20 opener in Abu Dhabi on 14 January". BBC Sport. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
  7. ^ "Unbeaten Afghanistan, Scotland top groups". International Cricket Council. Archived from the original on 20 January 2017. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  8. ^ "Nabi, Shahzad demolish Ireland". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 20 January 2017.
  9. ^ "Ireland thrashed by Afghanistan in Desert T20 Challenge final". BBC Sport. Retrieved 21 January 2017.