Ladies and gentlemen, we have four winners. Well, almost. Ultimately, one of them will still miss out on a World Cup place, but the identities of the four teams that will battle out the finals of this 2001 ICC Trophy tournament have been decided.

After thirteen days of earnest, intense and gripping competition, it is the Netherlands, Scotland, Namibia and Canada that have secured the right to progress to the last two matches of the event.

Their respective passages came only after another day of drama and tension across Toronto, though. In fact, it wasn't until well after six o'clock in the evening that the fates of all eight Super League sides were settled; players, officials and spectators all forced to hang on the excruciatingly tight finish between Netherlands and Ireland to learn the full implications of the day's four results.

With a thrilling two-run victory over Ireland at Maple Leaf, it was the Dutchmen who emerged as the biggest winners of all. They had lost their previous match and did not appear to enter the game in the same supremely confident state of mind as they have brought to most of their other outings during the last two weeks. Duly, they left plenty of room for tremors of the heart and biting of the nails as they sought to stage a successful defence of a total of 217 against a team which knew it simply had to win to remain alive in the competition.

With more than ten overs remaining in the match, Ireland had nudged to within just 53 runs of the victory target with six wickets still in tact. Somehow, though, an error in running between the wickets brought about the downfall of top scorer Jason Molins (93) and ushered in a horrible collapse that they will rue for some considerable time to come.

As it was, they still reached the final over needing only six to win and their penultimate pair scrambled four runs from its first two deliveries to seemingly all but push their team over the line. Amid the whirl of frenzied discussions between the batsmen, the bowlers and the fielders, though, another run out and a stumping then reversed the trend again, generating scenes of unrestrained delight among the Dutch and the small but loyal band of supporters that had followed them to the venue.

The Namibians have enjoyed a fairytale run in demonstrating that the task of reaching the final four from the depths of Division Two was never the impossibility that some pundits had imagined. If accurate bowling and sharp fielding are not crucial ingredients in winning cricket matches, then the only way to regard Namibia is as the exception that proves the rule.

Today, the quality of their resources was tested probably more than at any time in this tournament. At a mark of 52/0 in the eight over as they chased a modest score on a small ground, their opponents (the United Arab Emirates) could barely have worked their way into a stronger position.

Keeping the Namibian bowlers under control for a long period, however, has already proved too daunting an assignment for each of six opponents in this competition. Now came the seventh display of their extraordinary rein over run scoring; Louis Burger (4/25) and Burton van Rooi (4/18) ransacking the UAE innings so comprehensively that the final margin of victory was as much as 62 runs.

Increasingly, the contributions that captain Daniel Keulder (84) and Louis Burger (40) had provided in guiding the Namibians to a score of 179/7 began to assume massive significance.

Scotland's win over Denmark at Malton arrived in even more assured manner. The generator which filters power into the ground seemed even more noisy than is normal and a ripping breeze frustrated the players at different times but it was simply business as usual for the Scots. Consistent line and length from their bowlers was the key - just as it has been in all three of their Super League games to date - and it ensured that the Danes could edge to within no closer than 29 runs of a score of 194/8.

Spinners Gregor Maiden (3/29) and Keith Sheridan (2/31) again played starring roles, and there were important wickets too for paceman John Blain (3/42), who won a role with the new ball after several matches as the first change bowler.

Lars Andersen (38) and Aftab Ahmed (33) each threatened to tilt the balance at different moments but few of Denmark's batsmen were able to come to terms with the combination of the Scots' accuracy, occasional variability in bounce and Malton's slow outfield.

Around good contributions with the ball from Andersen (2/23) and Soren Vestergaard (2/47), Colin Smith (45), Maiden (40*) and Greig Williamson (31) had been the shining lights in the Scots' innings. Maiden's role was especially important in the closing stages, a decisive 38 runs being clubbed from the last four overs.

Likewise, it was a relaxed and very successful day for Canada. At the Toronto Cricket Skating and Curling Club, the hosts took on the United States in a continuation of cricket's most enduring international rivalry but made a mockery of the history of generally close matches between the pair with a crushing 121 run triumph.

Some wild strokes at the top of a reshuffled batting order saw the Canadians court early trouble at 108/4 after they had been invited to bat first but the resilience and sophisticated strokeplay of skipper Joe Harris (79) and Nick Degroot (47) soon had a partisan local crowd on its feet again. Harris was dropped twice on the way to his score - the first of his reprieves coming only five deliveries into his innings - and those slices of fortune went a long way to determining the course of proceedings thereafter.

Faoud Bacchus (36) played a determined innings and captain Richard Staple (31) was typically eye-catching but a total of 265/6 was way too strong for the USA. Medium pacer Degroot (2/28) and off spinner John Davison (3/30) helped themselves to half of the spoils as their opponents crashed to a total of 144.

In recording its victory, Canada ensured that the outcome of its match against Ireland tomorrow is largely irrelevant in the broader scheme of things in the tournament. Should they feel the urge, its followers can even devote their attention tomorrow exclusively to the outcome of Toronto's bid to stage the 2008 Olympics. Then again, it's hard to imagine that most will be able to completely ignore the momentum that the Canadian team, the narrowing race for World Cup qualification and the thrill of hard-nosed competitive cricket are combining to generate.

© 2001 CricInfo Ltd