Down to wire for Twenty20 qualifiers

Four teams including Afghanistan can still book one of two places in the ICC World Twenty20 finals in the West Indies in two months time after the qualifiers were thrown wide open on Friday.

Joint-defending champions Ireland and the Netherlands beat the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Afghanistan respectively to set the stage for a showdown on Saturday.

On the final day UAE meet Afghanistan, and Ireland play the Netherlands, with the winners of those matches booking their tickets for the West Indies from 30 April to 16 May.

"Tomorrow is a massive game. We're playing against Ireland and we're looking forward to it. We're on a roll after two good matches and we're keen to carry the momentum into that match and win a place in the tournament in the West Indies," said Dutch captain Peter Borren.

The Netherlands twice recovered from middle-order collapses to defeat Afghanistan by four wickets with seven balls to spare in front of thousands of very vocal Afghanistan supporters.

Chasing 129 for victory, the Netherlands slipped from 64-0 to 74-3 in a space of 14 balls before recovering to 109-3 in 15 overs.

A notable run-getter was opener Alexei Kervezee who scored 39 having been dropped off the third ball of his innings, while for Afghanistan Mohammad Nabi was the most successful bowler with 3-23.

Earlier, Afghanistan threw away a blistering start when they reached 30-0 after four overs before finishing at 128-9. Four batsmen were run-out due to a combination of good fielding and poor running between the wickets that badly hit their chances of posting a more formidable score.

Afghanistan coach Kabir Khan said the team were facing the most important game in their history on Saturday.

"I think today's defeat was a good wake-up call for the side ahead of the most important game we have played in our brief history. I'm sure the boys will return tomorrow all guns blazing as they know a victory will put them on a plane to the West Indies," he said.

In the second match, Ireland defeated hosts the UAE by 22 runs, scoring 152-7 in 20 while the home side were 103 all out in 19.1 over.

The winners of Saturday's matches will go head to head in the final to be played later in the evening. The winner of that match will join South Africa and India in Group C of the event in the West Indies and the losing finalist will join Group D which includes the West Indies and England.