ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier Team of Tournament announced

Image Credits: ICC official website

After a brilliant two weeks of competition, the Netherlands retained their International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier crown with victory over Papua New Guinea (PNG) in the summit showdown at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

The final brought to an end a fantastic tournament that played host to a huge number of brilliant individual performances.

The official team of the tournament below celebrates the top performers from the competition which includes the likes of Paul Stirling, Ryan ten Doeschate, Norman Vanua and Player of the Tournament Gerhard Erasmus.

A panel of four, consisting of television commentators Preston Mommsen and Natalie Germanos alongside ESPN Cricinfo Correspondent Peter Della Penna and ICC representative Ben Leaver, selected both the player of the tournament and team of the tournament.

While PNG's Asad Vala has been named as the captain of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier 2019 team of the tournament, Namibia's Gerhard Erasmus has been named as his deputy. 

PNG may have come out on the losing side in the final but their captain Asad Vala was a revelation with both bat and ball throughout the tournament, as well as serving as a dignified and calming presence for his teammates on the field and infront of the camera.

Vala claimed ten wickets and scored 197 runs, in particular starring with 48 and three for 19 against Namibia, PNG’s brilliance stemmed from an outstanding Vala at the heart of it all.

Erasmus, on the other hand, finished as the player of the tournament after ending as the competition’s second top scorer with 268 runs at an average of 38.28 alongside three fifties.

Captain Erasmus was, also, at the heart of everything Namibia did as they brilliantly qualified for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2020 and his brutal innings in the middle order were just the tonic for either a rebuild or a frantic finish to set up a score throughout the tournament.

The full ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier 2019 team of the tournament (in batting order):

Jatinder Singh (Oman), Paul Stirling (Ireland), Asad Vala (PNG (Captain), Gerhard Erasmus (Namibia) (vice-captain), Ryan ten Doeschate (Netherlands), Matt Cross (Scotland), JJ Smit (Namibia), Roelef van der Merwe (Netherlands), Norman Vanua (PNG), Paul van Meekeren (Netherlands), Bilal Khan (Oman), 12th man: Bernard Scholtz (Namibia).