T20 Teams

Ireland heads to the ICC World Twenty20 2009 hoping to repeat its famous exploits at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007, when it defeated Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Captained by William Porterfield, who has built an excellent reputation in county cricket with Gloucestershire, the side qualified for the event after some solid performances on the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier on home soil.

Although rain ruined its opportunity to win the Qualifier event, as the final against Netherlands was abandoned without a ball being bowled, it was named the top Associate seed for the event on the basis of its Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Ranking.

However, it came close to being eliminated from the tournament after Bermuda failed to chase a target of only 46 in nine overs in the group stages of the qualifier.

Ireland missed out on the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 2007 event as it came fifth in the six-team qualifying event in Nairobi so it will be determined to have an impact on the event this time in a group which sees them face India and Bangladesh.

Ireland has only ever played India on one occasion, crashing to a nine-wicket ODI defeat in a rain affected match in June 2007, despite Niall O'Brien making a fifty.

Since overcoming Bangladesh at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007, it suffered three heavy defeats fielding an under strength team in March 2008.

T20 Ireland Team
William Porterfield (captain)
Andre Botha
Peter Connell
Alex Cusack
Trent Johnston
John Mooney
Kyle McCallan (vice-captain)
Kevin O'Brien
Niall O'Brien
Paul Stirling
Boyd Rankin
Regan West
Andrew White
Gary Wilson
Jeremy Bray

The surprise package of the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier, it achieved qualification after defeating Scotland by five wickets in the semi-finals.

And its victory set up one of the biggest moments in the history of Dutch cricket, as it will play the opening match at the ICC World Twenty20 2009 against England at Lord's.

They will also face Pakistan at Lord's, the home of cricket, in what could be a decisive match if the hosts win its opening two games.

One of the key players in the tournament for the Dutch will be Ryan ten Doeschate, an excellent all-rounder who has starred for Essex and Western Province in domestic cricket, and who was instrumental in his side's qualification for the ICC World Twenty20 2009.

Alex Kervezee has already established himself as one of the most exciting young talents in Associate cricket and has a county contract with Worcestershire, while skipper Peter Borren is also very experienced.

At the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007, it recorded a victory over Scotland, although most fans will remember the campaign for Daan van Bunge conceding six sixes in an over off Herschelle Gibbs from South Africa.

T20 Netherlands Team
Jeroen Smits (captain)
Peter Borren
Mudassar Buhkari
Tom de Grooth
Maurits Jonkman
Alexei Kervezee
Dirk Nannes
Ruud Nijman
Darron Reekers
Edgar Schiferli
Pieter Seelaar
Eric Szwarczynski
Ryan ten Doeschate
Dan van Bunge
Bas Zuiderent

Placed with minnows Kenya and minnow-bashers Sri Lanka in Group C of the 2007 event, New Zealand trounced Kenya by nine wickets as Mark Gillespie and Shane Bond ripped apart the Kenyan attack. Between them, they took six wickets.

However, the next match saw them lose to Sri Lanka by seven wickets after the Kiwi openers failed to provide any momentum.

They bounced straight back in the Super Eight stage, beating India by 10 runs in a close contest. The key contributions coming from Craig McMillan (44 runs from 23 balls) and Jacob Oram (35 from 15 balls) with the bat and skipper Daniel Vettori - who claimed four wickets, effected a run-out and took two catches - in the field.

Against England it looked like a defeat was on the cards until the experience of Bond and Vettori helped rein in the England batsmen and steer New Zealand to a five run victory.

Their final group game was a six wicket defeat to South Africa but by then their semi-final berth had been secured.

But as has so often been the case, they stumbled at the semi-final stage as Pakistan cruised to a six-wicket win after limiting the Kiwis to 143. Ross Taylor provided the only bright moment with 37 in 23 balls, otherwise it was an easy victory for Pakistan, which included a half century by Imran Nazir.

With Taylor developing all the time, Brendon McCullum renowned as one of the most destructive T20 batsmen and the guile of Vettori with the ball, New Zealand could be a contender in 2009.

T20 New Zealand Team
Daniel Vettori (captain)
Neil Broom
Ian Butler
Brendon Diamanti
James Franklin
Martin Guptill
Brendon McCullum
Nathan McCullum
Peter McGlashan
Kyle Mills
Iain O'Brien
Jacob Oram
Jesse Ryder
Scott Styris
Ross Taylor

Imran Khan Niazi won Pakistan the World Cup in 1992. Fifteen years later, Misbah-ul Haq Niazi came close to doing a similar feat in the inaugural ICC World Twenty20. But, only close.

Boasting a young side that most observers wrote off even before the event began, Pakistan proved their doubters wrong to make it all the way to the final.

They began by beating Scotland by 51 runs and then tied with India after a fantastic display by Misbah-ul-Haq. The India match was resolved by a bowl-out with India emerging on top by a 3-0 margin. It was the first time that a bowl out was needed in the ICC World Twenty20 but both teams still went through to the Super Eights.

A 101-run partnership between Younis Khan and Shoaib Malik and some inspired bowling from Shahid Afridi proved to be the key to Pakistan's first victory of the Super Eight stage, by 33 runs against Sri Lanka. Their winning streak continued as they defeated Australia by six wickets and Bangladesh by four wickets. With these victories, Pakistan confirmed a semi-final berth.

In the semi-final against New Zealand, captain Shoaib Malik stroked a fabulous six to take his team to victory in majestic style. Imran Nazir scored 59 runs from 41 balls and Mohammad Hafeez scored 32 from 21 chasing a total of 144. Umar Gul generated awkward bounce for the New Zealand batsmen, mixed it up with yorkers and slower deliveries and picked up the Man-of-the-Match award for his impeccable figures of 3 for 15 from four overs.

In the final against arch-rivals India, there was no time to chew finger-nails or even think of thumping hearts as India's bowlers dug deep in their self-belief in successfully defending a low total of 157 for five with an emotional five-run victory at the magnificent Wanderers Cricket Stadium. Pakistani fans were in tears when Misbah-ul-Haq took the side so close to victory and could not seal the win to claim the trophy.

The Indians, restricted to 157-5 after electing to take first strike in good batting conditions, fought back to bowl out valiant Pakistan for 152 before a sell-out crowd of 32,000. Pakistan appeared out for the count when they were reduced to 104-7 after 16 overs, but Misbah-ul Haq gave the Indians a scare with a late charge of 43 off 38 balls.

Misbah and his tail-end partners took 19 runs in the 17th over bowled by spinner Harbhajan Singh, 13 in the 18th of Shanthakumaran Sreesanth and seven runs in the 19th from Rudra Pratap Singh, leaving 13 to get off the final over. Seamer Joginder Sharma bowled a wide off the first ball and was hammered for a six by Misbah with the second legitimate ball, but gave India victory with his next delivery as the batsman holed out to fine-leg. With this loss, Pakistan's jinx of never having beaten India in a World Cup or world championship match continued.

Pakistan will be looking to break that sequence in England in 2009 but, most importantly, they will be hoping to go one better and claim their first global event title since Imran Khan lifted the World Cup in 1992.

T20 Pakistan Team
Younus Khan (captain)
Salman Butt
Ahmed Shahzad
Misbah-ul-Haq
Kamran Akmal
Fawad Alam
Shoaib Malik
Shahid Afridi
Sohail Tanvir
Yasir Arafat
Shoaib Akhtar
Umar Gul
Mohammad Aamir
Saeed Ajmal
Shazaib Hasan