Bahrain will join Singapore in Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 5 next year after it secured a 233-run victory over Norway today at the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 6 (WCL Div. 6) in Singapore.

The home team defeated Malaysia by four wickets forcing it into third place, while Guernsey beat Botswana by 25 runs to ensure it stays in WCL Div. 6. Saturday's finalists will join Fiji, Jersey, USA and Nepal in the Division 5 tournament which will be staged in Nepal from 20 to 27 February 2010.

The WCL provides a clearly defined pathway towards the ICC Cricket World Cup as all Associate and Affiliate teams receive the opportunity to progress and develop as they take part in qualifying events against similarly ranked teams around the globe.

Bahrain's Tahir Dar, who was 54 not out at the close of his side's innings, proceeded to take match figures of 2-13 and earn himself the man-of-the-match award.

Afterwards, Dar said: 'Today we just played our natural game against Norway. In Bahrain we play on matting so it's taken some time to get used to the turf wicket but today things really came together for us and we just went for it.

'As for tomorrow's final against Singapore, we know it's going to be tough, Singapore have not lost a match this tournament but we're confident and hopefully we can bring our winning way to the finals.'

Imran Sajaad (68), Adil Hanif (65) and Qamar Saeed (47) helped Dar to clock up a total of 304 in 50 overs giving the Norway side a mountain to climb after the innings break.

Dar added: 'We really wanted to create a big target for Norway and the only way for us to do that was to hit the 300 mark, which we did and they failed to make it thanks to our strong bowling.'

When it came out to bat, Norway failed to fire. Indeed, only three of its batsmen made double figures and four got out having not scored a single run. Bahrain's bowlers worked their way through Norway to demolish the side for 72 all out in 27.4 overs, captain Yaser Sadeq taking 3-22, Fahad Sadeq taking 3-16 along with Dar's 2-13.

Bahrain 305-6, 50 overs (Imran Sajaad 68, Adil Hanif 65, Tahir Dar 56 not out, Qamar Saeed 47)
Norway 72 all out, 27.2 overs (Fahad Sadeq 3-16, Yaser Sadeq 3-22)
Bahrain won by 233 runs

Tomorrow will see ranking play-off matches where Singapore will face Bahrain at Kalang, Guernsey will play Malaysia at Singapore Cricket Club and Botswana are set to take on Norway at the Indian Association.