Scotland Win World Twenty20 Spot

Scotland has secured a place in next year’s World Twenty20 cricket tournament after Zimbabwe formally withdrew from the event.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) and Zimbabwe Cricket have ratified a decision which had been agreed at the ICC’s annual conference in July.

Scotland, who finished third in the recent ICC qualifier, will face New Zealand and South Africa in Group D. Ireland, meanwhile, will move up to take Zimbabwe’s place in Group A.

The Irish, who had initially been in Group B with England, will face India and Bangladesh – while England now meet Pakistan and the Netherlands.

There had been reports that Zimbabwe were wavering over their offer to pull out of the tournament, which Zimbabwe Cricket president Peter Chingoka said at the time was ‘in the wider interest of cricket’.
 
But ICC president David Morgan, vice-president Sharad Pawar and chief executive Haroon Lorgat have agreed with Zimbabwe officials that the July decision – which fell short of suspending Zimbabwe from international cricket as some had wanted – will stand.

UK government officials had previously stated that the Zimbabwe team would not be welcome in Britain because of President Robert Mugabe’s regime, and both England and South Africa’s cricket boards also broke off relations with Zimbabwe.