The final day of the group stages in Dubai turned out pretty much as I expected (sorry America). Here are the results:

• Afghanistan beat USA by 29 runs
• UAE beat Canada by 42 runs
• Netherlands beat Kenya by 7 wickets
• Ireland beat Scotland by 37 runs

So the four teams through to the final stages of the competition are: Afghanistan, Ireland, Netherlands and UAE. As points against fellow qualifiers are carried forward, Afghanistan and UAE will be the favorites to go through to the main tournament. Irish readers, your boys need to keep winning.

There is no fairy tale for the USA team, though they should be proud of their one win. It proves that they are now a force to be reckoned with. Canada and Scotland, I’m afraid your teams were rather uninspired.

There is, however, some good news for American cricket fans. Pakistan is currently unable to play home games because they cannot guarantee the safety of visiting teams (some of you may recall the horrific attack on the Sri Lankan team last year). They have been playing games in Dubai, but today it was reported that the Pakistan Cricket Board is in negotiations to play some games in the USA. Who they would play against is currently uncertain, but the games will almost certainly be in the Twenty20 format. This comes hard on the heels of news that Lalit Modi has been negotiating arrangements to stage some demonstration matches featuring IPL teams in the USA. We could be in for some exciting times.

If you happen to be reading this, Mr. Modi, please note that there are large numbers of cricket fans in the San Francisco Bay Area.