Papua New Guinea claim top spot

Papua New Guinea stood proudly on top of the World Cricket League Division Three on Tuesday following their upset 26-run victory against Uganda thanks to four wickets from Jamie Brazier.

And with Afghanistan and Hong Kong also recording victories on a dramatic day of action in Buenos Aires, the race to secure the two remaining places at the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier is wide open.

Martin Gleeson, coach of Papua New Guinea, was delighted that his side secured one of the surprise wins of the day, after defeating previous Division Three champions Uganda.

"It was a great result for us. There is still a bit of work to do and there is some room for improvement, but we have got the bowling right," said Gleeson.

"We are very disciplined and we have worked very hard on our bowling. We have good variety, with pace, spin and some medium-pace and have worked on getting the right line and length."

Afghanistan coach Kabir Khan praised the spirit of his team after yet another dramatic victory, narrowly scraping past Argentina by 19 runs.

"The best thing about our team is that they are fighting back when the game seems to be slipping out of our hands," said Kabir. "They never give up, they just keep on fighting, and that is the true Afghan spirit."

In the other game of the day, Hong Kong handed Cayman Islands a third straight defeat, to keep Tabarak Dar's dream of ICC Cricket World Cup Qualification alive.

Hong Kong posted a target of 210 all out off 46.3 overs, with Manoj Cheruparambil hitting an impressive 83, the highest individual score of the tournament so far, with good support from Roy Lamsam (60).

And a regular flurry of wickets saw Cayman Islands finally dismissed for 161 all out, 49 runs short of their target.

The top two teams from this six-nation division will make it to the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier in South Africa to be held in April this year.

They will face Kenya, Scotland, Netherlands, Canada, Ireland and Bermuda from Division One and UAE, Oman, Namibia and Denmark who qualified from Division Two. The top four teams from this stage will qualify for the 2011 World Cup finals.