Papa New Guinea qualify for the 2024 Men's T20 World Series

Papua New Guinea have qualified for the 2024 Men’s T20 World Series after defeating Philippines by 100 runs in Port Moresby to guarantee a first place finish in the East Asia-Pacific Qualifier. 

Breezy fifties from Tony Ura, Assad Vala and Charles Amini powered PNG to a decent total of 229 in their quota of 20 overs after they were asked to bat. Philippines in reply could only muster 129 runs on the scoreboard. 

PNG are yet to be beaten in the tournament so far, winning all five of their games. They will play their final match against Japan on Saturday. 

Japan, second on the table with six points to their name, began Friday with a chance of keeping their qualification hopes alive if they beat Vanuatu. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, as a dominant all round display from Nalin Nipiko guided his side to their first win of the tournament. 

The 2024 World Series, scheduled to be hosted jointly by the USA and the West Indies, will be a 20-team tournament. The teams will each be divided into groups of four comprising five teams apiece for the first round, with the top two teams from each group qualifying for the Super 8 stage. The Super 8 teams will be segregated into two groups of four each, with the top two in each group advancing through the semi finals. 

Twelve teams had already qualified for the forthcoming T20 World Series before the regional qualifiers. These include hosts West Indies, USA, the top eight teams at the 2022 T20 World Series- Australia, England, India, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka- and Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who qualified on the basis of their T20I rankings. 

Besides PNG, seven other teams will compete in the tournament through regional qualifiers. Ireland and Scotland booked their places on Friday by finishing top two in the Europe Region Qualifier. Qualifiers for the Americas ( one spot), Africa (two spots) and Asia (two spots) will also be held in the coming months.