UAE played Afghanistan today in what was the main event of the World Cup Qualifiers for me.

I was backing Afghanistan all the way as UAE had already won all but one of its matches. An Afghan win would have improved their chances of securing a World Cup place.

After the loss to the UAE though, its looking tough for the Afghans.

They have qualified for the Super Eights along with Kenya, Netherlands, and UAE - all 3 of whom have 4 wins from 5 matches but are ranked in that order on the basis of net run rate.

But a Super Eight berth, where they go up against stronger opposition in Scotland, Ireland, and Canada, does not guarantee a World Cup place.

Only the top 4 are going to qualify.

On current form that looks like Ireland, the only team that is unbeaten in the competition, and any 3 of Canada, Kenya, Netherlands, and the UAE.

There were no surprises in the final round of matches of the group stages, besides Oman winning their first match of the tournament.

They beat Uganda, who also managed only 1 win in 5 matches, by a single wicket in what turned out to be one of the most exciting matches of the Qualifiers thus far - it produced the highest run chase of the tournament.

Everyone's favorite associate nation player, Dwayne Leverock, had made quite an impact in his 2 games for Bermuda in the qualifiers.

Who would be interested in a cricket tournament that involves teams from places as diverse as Denmark, Uganda, Namibia, Bermuda, and Oman?

Not many.

"Do these countries even play cricket?" is the common response you get from majority of the cricket followers.

When you tell them that Afghanistan has a cricket team that has against all odds managed to get to the qualifying competition for the 2011 World Cup, you manage to attract some attention.

Which is lost again when they hear that the Nertherlands, UAE, Kenya, Scotland, Ireland, and Canada are also trying to qualify.

"But they have played World Cups before and never done anything. Why do they even try?" is another reaction that is quite common.

Well, Kenya managed to reach the semi-finals in 2003.

Ireland managed to kick Pakistan out of the 2007 World Cup.

A Canadian batsmen made the fastest world cup century.

A UAE opener smashed Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis out of the park on several occasions.

These few achievements have not been enough to convince the cricket watching public that the associate nations are good enough to compete among the best in a World Cup.

These people have a point and their reactions are valid to some extent.

What happened to Kenya after they reached the Semis?

There was potential to build that team. The platform was set. They could have developed into a world class ODI outfit.

It did not happen though.

Had the administrators tried to develop the game in Kenya by providing them better facilities and more international games, maybe they would not have been in a position where they would have had to try and qualify for another world cup.

They are former semi-finalists for God's sake!

Afghanistan has shown a lot of promise throughout their matches in the World Leagues leading upto the ICC Qualifiers.

That promise needs to be developed further.

Afghanistan should not go the way Kenya did after 2003.

Funding, development, facilities, coaches, whatever they need. It should be provided.

I know its the recession but the big bux are still being raked in by some cricket boards. I don't need to mention them.

Good use is utilizing it for developing these associate nations that show potential to be world beaters.

I have lived in the UAE all my life almost and I have seen their cricket develop slower than a snail's pace. In fact a snail seems to take strides in front of how the game has developed here.

The UAE have appeared in a World Cup and in almost all the qualifying competitions.

Yet their cricketers still play on cement wickets and sandy outfields.

Why? Why is their no support for the associate nations? Where does the money from the "development fund" go?

There are still only 2 international stadiums in the UAE, out of which one is banned and the other has hosted a handful of ODIs. A 3rd one is about to host its first.

Why has there been so much inaction?

I cannot blame the cricket watching public for being un-interested or ignorant about the matches played by associate nations.

How can we expect them to take the likes of Kenya, Afghanistan, and the UAE seriously when the administrators themselves don't?

There's a lot of potential out there. A lot of promise. A lot of opportunity.

We just need the right people to tap into it the right way!