A splendid 167-run opening stand between Alexei Kervezee and Mudassar Bukhari made short work of Canada's 205 in Johannesburg yesterday and confirmed Netherlands will be at the 2011 World Cup and carry ODI status for the next four years.

Kervezee (77) and Bukhari (84) led a confident reply to a target of 206 and though Netherlands wobbled after their stand was snapped in the 37th over, the cool hand of Bas Zuiderent was there when the winning runs were hit.

The win was set up in the field thanks to a controlled bowling and fielding display. Bukhari and Eric Szwarczynski struck with the new ball and the pressure was maintained by Darron Reekers and Peter Borren. Only Sandeep Jyoti (46) and Umar Bhatti (39 not out) waged some resistance down the order but a target of 206 proved too easy for Netherlands.

Kenya bounced back from the humiliation of defeat to Namibia by beating Ireland in Pretoria and confirming their presence at the World Cup.

The Africans needed to beat Ireland and did so, first keeping them to 208 and wrapping up the chase by six wickets with 12 balls in hand.

At 83 for three in the 23rd over it was still anyone's game but the experienced Steve Tikolo hit a cool unbeaten 66 from 73 balls and sealed victory with Collins Obuya. Obuya was not out on 50 in a partnership worth 113.

Niall O'Brien was the top-scorer with 59 during Ireland's innings. John Mooney (34), Andrew White (25), Kevin O'Brien (22) and William Porterfield (21) got starts without really pressing on.

Tikolo was the most successful wicket-taker with three for 11. Ireland had already secured World Cup qualification but will be without Eoin Morgan for tomotrrow's game against Canada. Kenya finished third in the Super Eights.

When it mattered, Scotland finally produced a performance meriting their pre-tournament status as one of the two favourites, thumping UAE by 122 runs and, with it, retaining their status as an international country by the thinnest of margins, although failing to qualify for the World Cup.

To produce it at this last-gasp stage of proceedings, however, will not lessen the disappointment of the loyal supporters – a few of whom were scattered around the Benoni ground – nor, more prosaically, Scotland Cricket or the ICC, both of whom have invested four years of money and time into a team who have played well beneath themselves.

A Scottish stalwart, Gavin Hamilton, came to their rescue yet again yesterday with 127 from just 124 balls, but questions remained about Scotland's poor performances.

UAE were undone by a fine display of seam-and-swing from Scotland's ever-green allrounder Craig Wright. The former captain, now 34 and who many expect to stand down at the end of this tournament, produced tidy figures of four for 41 from 10 nagging overs as UAE chased an unlikely, but gettable, 300 on a flat surface.

Well, it took a while to arrive, but eventually Hamilton opened his shoulders to loft Amjad over midwicket before uppercutting him beautifully over the slips. With McCullum for company, the pair put on 121 off 123 as Hamilton's hundred - celebrated with a subdued raise of the bat and nothing more - came up from 110 balls. UAE's brittle confidence snapped in two; the blistering last 20 overs yielded 171 runs, the sort of match-defining partnership which Scotland have failed to produce in this tournament.

"We obviously had our eyes set on a high-placed finish, and obviously things didn't go to plan at various times and we just lacked consistency really," said Scotland coach Pete Steindl. "All in all, today, the way we played, I'm much happier and it was a good performance and it's nice to get in there in the top six."