Afghanistan have qualified for their third successive World Twenty20 tournament after a five wicket haul from Samiullah Shenwari leads them to victory over Kenya.

But the match didn't start well for the Afghans when the big hitting Mohammad Shahzad was dismissed from the third ball of the match with the score on 4. But Karim Sadiq and Noor Ali didn't let that early setback affect them, and they put on 46 for the second wicket before Sadiq was out having scored 30.

Nawroz Mangal, Mohammad Nabi and Samiullah Shenwari both came and went quickly without contributing much, before Noor Ali and Najibullah Zadran had a partnership of 56 for the sixth wicket, before Noor Ali was dismissed in the 19th over by Collins Obuya.

Obuya also removed Najibullah in the 19th over before Duncan Allan bowled a tidy last over, taking two more wickets. Afghanistan had made 148-9 from their 20 overs.

Kenya briefly looked to be making light work of the run chase as they raced to 30 in the first two overs, Steve Tikolo looking in fine form. But the early introduction of Shenwari in the third over saw the wheels come off.

Shenwari removed Nehemiah Odhimabo and Alex Obanda in consecutive deliveries, and Hamza Hotak bowled Steve Tikolo in the following over, Tikolo having scored 25 from 16 balls. Shenwari then picked up his third wicket, trapping Duncan Allan lbw in the fifth over. From 31-0, Kenya were 33-4.

Kenya's run scoring slowed down from then on, with Rakep Patel and Collins Obuya putting on 42 in eight overs. Shenwari was reintroduced to the attack and promptly had Obuya stumped from the first ball of the 13th over, and took his fifth wicket in his next over, finishing with figures of 5-13, the fifth best bowling figures in Twenty20 Internationals, and the best by a bowler from outside the Test playing nations.

Thomas Odoyo was bowled by Mirwais Ashraf in the 16th over, and Ragheb Aga holed out to Karim Sadiq off the bowling of Shapoor Zadran from the first ball of the 18th over. Patel's belligerent innings came to an end from the next ball, having scored a battling 52 from 38 balls.

Ashraf took the final wicket in the following over, and Afghanistan had won by 34 runs and qualified for the 2014 World Twenty20 in Bangladesh, sparking celebrations amongst the Afghan players and their always noisy support in Sharjah.

Afghanistan now get plenty of time to relax before their next game, which will be the semi-final against either Hong Kong or Nepal in Abu Dhabi on Friday. Papua New Guinea's defeat of Bermuda meant that Kenya couldn't even make the qualification play-offs, and they will play Canada in the 11th place play-off on Tuesday before going home.

It is perhaps the ultimate symbol of the decline of Kenyan cricket that despite having 17 years with ODI status, they have finished this tournament behind six teams that don't even have that particular status.