• Snooker World Cup

England and Northern Ireland into the quarters

Ali Carter won both his singles rubbers © Getty Images

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England and Northern Ireland are both through to the Snooker World Cup quarter-finals after they picked up the wins necessary to advance on Thursday.

In snooker's equivalent to the Davis Cup in tennis, competing countries play four singles rubbers and a doubles rubber in a best-of-five setup. However, qualification from the group phase is determined by the overall tally of rubbers won, not match victories.

Ali Carter won both his singles encounters as he and Mark Selby saw off India 4-1 to sweep England into the last eight. There were few memorable breaks to speak off, but the duo showed they will be difficult to overcome in the knockout stages.

"At the start of the tournament our aim was to get out of the group and it looked tough on paper but we've done it quite easily," Selby told World Snooker's official website. "It wasn't pretty to watch but it's the result that counts. We wanted at least 4-1 and got 4-1."

Northern Ireland secured their place in the last eight after a thrilling 3-2 victory over Belgium. Gerard Greene and Mark Allen were given a stern test but did enough to claim their third win in a row, which proved enough for a place in the quarter-finals after England's win over India.

"We got what we needed and that was what we set out at the start of the competition to do - to qualify for the quarter-finals," said Allen. "We still have to play England and that's going to be another tough match but we have to beat them and win the group to avoid Scotland."

Scotland are one of the favourites to win the event, and they had to come from 2-1 behind to beat Thailand II. John Higgins and Stephen Maguire both won singles rubbers to leave the Scots needing one frame against Hong Kong on Friday.

Wales require one frame in their final match against Republic of Ireland to guarantee themselves a last-eight berth after sneaking past Pakistan 3-2 - their third win in succession.

"It's another win but the way you get through is by the number of frames you've won and match wins sort of don't count," said Mark Williams, who is partnering Matthew Stevens in the event. "We were 3-0 up and could've nicked one of the last ones and guaranteed it."

Ireland can also book a place in the last eight thanks to a 3-2 win over Germany. Ken Doherty was the Irish hero in the final frame.

It proved an historic day for Afghanistan as they recorded their first ever Snooker World Cup victory. Mohammad Saleh won both of his singles rubbers to help secure a 4-1 triumph over Poland and he was delighted with the unexpected result, which saw Afghanistan claim a creditable nine points from their four games.

"I played very well and didn't expect to win today," Saleh said. "The competition is very tough and at a very high level - all the top professionals are here. John Higgins, Mark Selby and Mark Allen are all my favourite players. For Afghanistan I was so proud to represent my country and I'm so happy for my country, who have always supported us in snooker."

Elsewhere, China beat Australia 3-2 to stay unbeaten, while Malta recorded a whitewash of the UAE with Tony Drago hitting breaks of 100 and 70 to help set up a 5-0 thrashing.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.