Two from four has become three out of six for Auckland in their bid to progress to the Champions League T20 tournament in India in October.
Organisers have put the two English counties who win through in with Auckland - as HRV Cup winners last season - Trinidad and Tobago,
the Sri Lankan champions and Kolkata Knight Riders, the fourth placed finishers in the recent Indian Premier League in a six-team playoff.
That will be held in Hyderabad from September 19-21. The top three complete the 10 teams for the Champions League, which will be played in Bangalore, Kolkata and Chennai from September 23-October 9.
The guaranteed starters are the top three IPL teams, Chennai Super Kings, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians, South Australia and New South Wales, and the Warriors and Cape Cobras from South Africa. Those three countries run the competition, therefore they get first dibs.
Pakistan is the only major test-playing nation not given a place in either the CL or its qualifying event, and that for reasons not connected to cricket.
Auckland Cricket chief executive Andrew Eade is intrigued at how the qualifying format will work. A three-day competition does not allow for a full round robin, and suggests two groups of three, with the winners progressing and a method devised to split the two second-placed teams.
"We're hopeful of being able to play in a mini-tournament in Darwin on September 9-11 against three Australian state sides," Eade said yesterday. "If that comes through it would be fantastic preparation."
Auckland then fly to Hyderabad on September 12 and have a couple of warmup games before the competition starts.
One intriguing scenario is sitting in the back corner of Auckland's minds: whether they will have the services of their two overseas imports from last season, Hampshire opener Jimmy Adams and former New Zealand allrounder Andre Adams, of Nottinghamshire. Both counties are trying to qualify. If they succeed, the expectation is they would have to play for their English county.
