Dubai: Papua New Guinea and Ireland have qualified for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Australia 2020 after finishing top of their respective groups in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier.

Victory over Kenya, combined with later results, proved enough for PNG to reach the ICC T20 World Cup for the first time in their history.

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PNG first defeated Kenya by 45 runs in a thrilling morning match on Sunday (October 27), and the failure of Netherlands to then beat Scotland in 12.3 overs of their chase meant PNG could book their tickets to the premier event Down Under next year

Ireland, meanwhile, progressed courtesy of results elsewhere going in their favour, with Jersey defeating Oman on the final day of group-stage action.

As well as reaching next year’s showcase, both sides will also progress to the semi-finals of the Qualifier, where they play the winners of the two semi-final play-offs.

The first of those will see Netherlands, who finished second in Group A, face UAE as the third-ranked team in Group B. The winner of that match will face Ireland while they will also qualify for next year’s World Cup.

The other semi-final play-off will see Namibia face Oman, after the two finished third in Group A and second in Group B respectively. PNG await the victors, who will also reach Australia 2020.

Scotland and Hong Kong, who finished fourth in their respective groups, will now take part in the fifth-place play-off semi-finals. There they will face the defeated side in each of the semi-final play-offs, with the winner in each match also qualifying for the T20 World Cup.