Three good balls.

Three good balls have produced an unprecedented butterfly effect on Associate cricket.

Three good balls were the difference between a side going back to Division Three with limited opportunity for growth and gaining ODI status for the first time and in so doing expand their horizons.

Nepal finished on the right side of the equation. But it could so easily have been UAE or Hong Kong or Canada or Namibia….

Three good balls summed up the intense competition between Associates in 2018.

On day one of WCL Division Two, all Namibia needed was one good ball to see off Nepal's last wicket stand. Nepal needed 18 runs, and they got it.

A few days later, the equation was even simpler. Two runs to win. One ball in hand. A yorker could have done it for Kenya but Nepal sneaked home again.

On the last day of round-robin play, Nepal needed 51 runs to win but all Canada needed was one good ball.

Three good balls, one at a time, a few days apart, were the difference between Nepal topping the group-stage table at WCL Division Two and heading to the World Cup Qualifier, alongside UAE, and being relegated to Division Three, with Kenya following them.

UAE captain Rohan Mustafa lets out a victory scream after winning WCL Division Two Peter Della Penna

UAE's players now sit in Zimbabwe, content in the knowledge that their central contracts, which hinged on keeping ODI status, are safe for the foreseeable future. Their two league-stage wins at the World Cup Qualifier secured a place in the Super Six, and guaranteed a top-three finish among Associate teams at the tournament. But a month ago, in Namibia, the players couldn't have been more on edge heading into a must-win match against Oman.

According to Paul Radley, who covers the UAE cricket for the National and contributes to ESPNcricinfo, the loss of ODI status could have meant termination of the players' contracts, many of whom can only stay in the country if they kept their job. With their backs against the wall, they found a way to beat Oman that day, and later Namibia to guarantee their place in the Qualifier.

Three good balls would have meant Namibia and Canada finishing Division Two with a 4-1 record and progressing to the Qualifier instead of Nepal and UAE. It would have meant a player like Gerhard Erasmus delaying his law school ambitions for at least one more tournament. It would have meant Namibia captain Sarel Burger and Craig Williams carrying on with hopes of claiming a World Cup berth and ODI status instead of announcing their retirements shortly after Division Two. It would have meant Canada captain Nitish Kumar eyeing an expedited path back to the central contracts his team-mates relinquished, along with with their ODI status, in 2014.

Three good balls may also have meant Hong Kong avoiding the newest bowling wunderkind in Associate cricket. Needing a win on the last day of round-robin play to advance to the Super Sixes, which would have kept their World Cup dreams alive and secured ODI status for another four years, Hong Kong were dismantled by 17-year-old Sandeep Lamichhane, who will taste the global spotlight playing for Delhi Daredevils later this year.

Three good balls would have resulted in a talent that the IPL wanted plying his trade in the relative anonymity of WCL Division Three.

Oh, and in between all that, Afghanistan, who won only one game in the league stage of the Qualifier, were thrust into the Super Six instead.