African minnows Zimbabwe and Kenya advanced to a surprising Super Six lineup along side defending World Cup champion Australia and other former winners India and Sri Lanka.
England and Pakistan were sent packing, both as a consequence of the rain-enforced no result between Zimbabwe and Pakistan on Tuesday, while a rain storm deprived South Africa of any further part in the World Cup it is hosting with its African rivals.
Hours after South Africa's campaign ended in a Durban downpour, rain helped propel Zimbabwe into the elite second round when play was abandoned at Bulawayo.
Boycotted
The four points were split, giving Zimbabwe 14 in all and third place in Group A, two points clear of England and four ahead of Pakistan. England, which boycotted its Feb. 13 match in Harare due to safety concerns, would have advanced if the Pakistanis had won by anything other than a record margin.
Zimbabwe skipper Heath Streak said his side was ``elated to go through,'' although he'd have preferred to have played and beaten England and to have had a full match against Pakistan.
The Kenyans had an upset win over Sri Lanka and the forfeit by New Zealand in Nairobi among its four wins and had secured its spot in the Super Six after five games. New Zealand progressed after a nervous wait for the Durban result on Monday night.
Kenya thrashed by 142 runs by the West Indies at Kimberley on Tuesday, likely in a taste of things to come.
Skipper Steve Tikolo said the loss had taught his lineup a lesson.
``We're through to the Super Six but obviously not a very good match for us,'' he said. ``We've learned a lot in the games we've played and hopefully we can carry that into the next few games.''
Rain persisted all day in Bulawayo. The start was delayed an hour and then abandoned after three subsequent delays. Pakistan was 73 for three with opener Saeed Anwar unbeaten on 40 after just 14 overs of action.
The Zimbabweans did a victory lap after shaking hands with the Pakistanis and then Streak sent England packing with some ``I told you so!'' remarks.
Showing off
``Their decision to stay away was theirs and was out of our control. We are only conscious now that this has been a very special achievement and we are keen now to show just what we can do,'' he said. ``Nobody can take that from us.''
If England had gone to Zimbabwe and won, the Zimbabwe vs. Pakistan would have been insignificant. Vincent Hogg, the chief executive of the Zimbabwe union, said England the England match was the only one of six set for Zimbabwe that had to be canceled.
``Five [other] countries participated here and [England] should have been among them. We are the ones who have gone through and we are happy about that.''
The West Indies, who slumped out of contention on a washed-out no result against Bangladesh, reached 246 for seven on the back of Chris Gayle's 119 and then dismissed Kenya for 104 in the 36th over.
West Indies skipper Carl Hooper said the win was a confidence booster.
``We wanted to be convincing in our victory today and the job was done,'' he said. ``While we're out of the Super Six, we can take a lot of heart the way we played this tournament. Sometimes we were a bit patchy, but in the main we were OK.''
The three-round Super Six competition will start tomorrow with Australia against Group B winner Sri Lanka at Centurion and Group A runner-up India vs. Kenya at Cape Town.
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