ICC World Twenty20: 'Irish unity will overcome Netherlands' needle'

Ireland's team unity can help them overcome the Netherlands in Friday's 'needle match' to book their place in the ICC World Twenty20 Super 10s, says Kyle McCallan.

Better

Zimbabwe's hopes of qualifying for the Super 10s remain alive despite Tom Cooper's unbeaten 72, which helped the Netherlands post 140-5. Hamilton Masakadza (43) and captain Brendan Taylor (49) both replied in style for the ICC Full member side but it still took Vusi Sibanda's last-ball six to seal the win. The Netherlands' strong showing is further evidence, says McCallan, that the the gap between the top associate teams and the bottom full member teams "has really closed". "I appreciate that Zimbabwe cricket is in crisis on and off the field, but it's great to see that the top associates are really giving the likes of Zimbabwe and Bangladesh a good run for their money. He added: "Ireland have come into the tournament having won the T20 qualifiers, the 50-over World Cricket League and the five-day Intercontinental Cup, so we have proved ourselves as the leading associate in all forms of the game. "We are doing it on a budget much less than what Zimbabwe are getting and if the ICC gave us that chunk I think we would do better than Zimbabwe." Mark Butcher, whose father Alan coached Zimbabwe until early 2013, said: "The noise around world cricket is that Ireland deserve full status - or at least bigger status than they have at the moment - and people are saying that Zimbabwe are the team they should be playing in place of. "So there is massive pressure on the entire structure of the Zimbabwean game which is struggling because of financial issues and other factors." Watch Ireland take on the Netherlands from 9am on Sky Sports 2 this Friday.