World Cricket League

World Cricket League
Official logo
Administrator	International Cricket Council
Format	One Day International List A
First tournament	2007–09
Tournament format	League system
Number of teams	96 nations
Current champion	Ireland
Most successful	Ireland (1 victory)
Website	Pepsi ICC World Cricket League
ICC World Cricket League 2009-13

The ICC World Cricket League is a series of international one-day cricket tournaments for national teams without Test status, administered by the International Cricket Council. All associate and affiliate members of the ICC are eligible to compete in the league system, which features a promotion and relegation structure between divisions. The league system has two main aims: to provide a qualification system for the World Cup that can be accessed by all associate and affiliate members, and as an opportunity for these sides to play international one-day matches against teams of similar standards.

In the inaugural ICC World Cricket League 2007–09, teams were allocated into divisions based on their performance in the qualification tournaments for the 2007 World Cup; the six initial teams in Division One were the teams that qualified for the 2007 World Cup. The initial series began with regional qualifiers and a First Division in 2007, and ended with the 2009 ICC World Cup Qualifier. At this stage, there were only five divisions.

The second cycle began in 2009 with three additional divisions.

History

The World Cricket League was devised by the ICC to provide regular one-day international cricket to Associate and Affiliate countries as well as to provide a qualification route into the ICC World Cup Qualifier (formerly ICC Trophy) and from there to World Cup. Despite some scepticism, it has been a great success, allowing countries to work their way to the top of the pile on merit. This was best highlighted by the rapid ascendency of Afghanistan from Division Five to Division One in under two years.

The competition is divided into nine divisions (it was originally five) with promotion and relegation between them. Each division takes places in one venue over a week in a round-robin league with play-off places resulting from there culminating in a final between the top two and ranking finals for the remaining teams.

The ICC says that competition is about more than just the top Associate teams. "It is a five-division structure designed to afford teams of various standards the opportunity to play regular one-day cricket against similarly ranked opponents regardless of where in the world they are located. It will also ensure that the qualifying pathway for the World Cup is open to the majority of the 91 ICC Associate and Affiliate members."

The first event – the WCL Division 1 competition involving the top six Associates – took place in Nairobi in January/February 2007 and was won by hosts Kenya with Scotland the runners-up. The two sides qualified for the ICC World Twenty in South Africa later in the year.

Rules and format

The WCL was initially divided into five global groups (see below) with the first staging of each division being used to establish grouping thereafter. From 2009 onwards each division will have two promotion and relegations with the exception of the top division.

All sides in Division 1 plus the top four in Division Two and the top two in Division Three 2009 will go through to the ICC World Cup Qualifier (formerly the ICC Trophy) which will be held in the UAE in April 2009. That will in turn produce rankings for each of the top divisions from 2009 onwards.

Structure

The initial league began in 2007 with seven tournaments over five global divisions, based upon previous world rankings. This was expanded into eight separate divisions for the 2009–13 edition. In the first cycle, the number of teams in each tournament varied from six to twelve. With the advent of the second cycle, the number of teams had regularised to six for each tournament. The exception is the lowest division, Division 8, in which eight teams play. The final of each cycle, the World Cup Qualifier, contains twelve teams as it is a combination of Divisions 1(all 6 teams),2(top 4 teams) and 3 (top 2 teams).

When most of the divisions are played, two teams will be promoted, two relegated and two remain for the next instalment, two years later. There are some occasions when this is not the case. When Division 8 is played, though two teams are promoted, only one remains and the bottom five drop out of the system. They are replaced by the top five teams from recent regional events for the next instalment. At the end of each cycle, the World Cup Qualifier is played featuring the top twelve teams. According to the results, the top six qualify for Division 1 of the next cycle. The teams that finish seventh to tenth in this tournament proceed to Division 2 and the bottom two are relegated to Division 3. Teams in Division 1 gain ODI status and the top four qualify for the Cricket World Cup. In addition, there is no promotion or relegation so the teams remain until the next World Cup Qualifier is played.

Regional tournaments, which acted as qualifiers for the lower divisions of the first cycle of the World league, and continue to do so for Division 8 in subsequent cycles, are administered by the five Development Regions of the International Cricket Council: Africa, Americas, Asia, East Asia-Pacific, and Europe.

Associate and Affiliate one-day rankings

Joel Olweny, Captain of the Uganda Cricket team

In late 2005, the International Cricket Council ranked the top non-Test nations from 11–30 to complement the Test nations' rankings in the ICC ODI Championship. The ICC used the results from the 2005 ICC Trophy and WCQS Division 2 competition (i.e. the primary qualification mechanisms for the 2007 Cricket World Cup) to rank the nations.

These rankings were used to seed the initial stage of the global World Cricket League. Teams ranked 11–16 were placed into Division 1; teams 17–20 were placed into Division 2; teams 21–24 were placed into Division 3; the remaining teams were placed into the upper divisions of their respective regional qualifiers.

As of 19 April 2009 the top six associates/affiliates gained one day status. Kenya,Ireland and Netherlands have qualified to appear on the main rating table, Kenya from its existing status, Ireland for its two victories in the 2007 World Cup and Netherlands for its win over Bangladesh. Afghanistan, Canada and Scotland remain on the secondary table. In May 2009, the ICC added a rankings table for all associate and affiliate members. This contained both global and regional placings and can be seen below:

Rankings

Rankings according to ICC:

As at 18 May 2013:

Division	Rank	Nation	Africa	Americas	Asia	EAP	Europe
Championship	11	Ireland					1
	12	Netherlands					2
	13	Kenya	1
	14	Scotland					3
	15	Afghanistan			1
	16	Canada		1
	17	United Arab Emirates			2
	18	Namibia	2
World Cup Qualifier	19	Papua New Guinea				1
	20	Hong Kong			3
	21	Nepal			4
	22	Uganda	3
Div 3	23	United States		2
	24	Bermuda		3
Div 4	25	Oman			5
	26	Italy					4
	27	Singapore			6
	28	Denmark					5
Div 5	29	Malaysia			7
	30	Tanzania	4
	31	Guernsey					6
	32	Cayman Islands		4
Div 6	33	Bahrain			8
	34	Argentina		5
	35	Kuwait			9
	36	Jersey					7
	37	Nigeria	5
	38	Vanuatu				2
Div 7	39	Fiji				3
	40	Botswana	6
Div 8	41	Ghana	7
	42	Germany					8
	43	Japan				4

Regional rankings

Africa
8 – Zambia
9 – Seychelles
10 – Mozambique
11 – Swaziland
12 – Sierra Leone
13 – Gambia
14 – Rwanda
15 – Saint Helena
16 – Morocco
17 – Cameroon
18 – Mali
19 – Lesotho
20 – Malawi

Americas
6 – Suriname
7 – Panama
8 – Belize
9 – Turks and Caicos Islands
10 – Bahamas
11 – Brazil
12 – Peru
13 – Chile
14 – Mexico
15 – Costa Rica
16 – Falkland Islands
17 – Cuba

Asia
10 – Bhutan
11 – Maldives
12 – Saudi Arabia
13 – Qatar
14 – Thailand
15 – Iran
16 – China
17 – Brunei
18 – Myanmar

East-Asia Pacific
5 – Samoa
6 – Philippines
7 – Cook Islands
8 – Tonga
9 – South Korea
10 – Indonesia

Europe
9 – Belgium
10 – Norway
11 – France
12 – Gibraltar
13 – Austria
14 – Isle of Man
15 – Sweden
16 – Spain
17 – Israel
18 – Greece
19 – Finland
20 – Portugal
21 – Estonia
22 – Luxembourg
23 – Croatia
24 – Cyprus
25 – Malta
26 – Slovenia
27 – Bulgaria
28 – Czech Republic
29 – Turkey
30 – Russia
31 – Hungary

Results

Summary

Details	Host Nation(s)	Final Venue	Final
			Winner	Result	Runner-up
2007–09	Various	South Africa	Ireland 188/1 (42.3 overs)	Ireland won by 9 wickets Scorecard	Canada 185 all out (48 overs)
2009–14	Various	New Zealand
2012–18	Various

Division results

2007–2009
Details	Host Nation(s)	Final Venue	Final
			Winner	Result	Runner-up
2007 Division One	Kenya	Nairobi Gymkhana Club, Nairobi	Kenya 158/2 (37.5 overs)	Kenya won by 8 wickets Scorecard	Scotland 155 all out (47 overs)
2007 Division Three	Australia	Gardens Oval, Darwin	Uganda 241/8 (50 overs)	Uganda won by 91 runs scorecard	Argentina 150 all out (46.3 overs)
2007 Division Two	Namibia	Wanderers Cricket Ground, Windhoek	United Arab Emirates 347/8 (50 overs)	United Arab Emirates won by 67 runs scorecard	Oman 280 all out (43.2 overs)
2008 Division Five	Jersey	Grainville, St Saviour	Afghanistan 81/8 (37.4 overs)	Afghanistan won by 2 wickets Scorecard	Jersey 80 all out (39.5 overs)
2008 Division Four	Tanzania	Kinondoni Ground, Dar es Salaam	Afghanistan 179 all out (49.4 overs)	Afghanistan won by 57 runs Scorecard	Hong Kong 122 all out (45.0 overs)
2009 Division Three	Argentina	Belgrano Athletic Club Buenos Aires	Afghanistan +0.971(NRR)	Afghanistan won on net run rate Table	Uganda +0.768(NRR)
2009 WC Qualifier	South Africa	SuperSport Park Centurion, Gauteng	Ireland 188/1 (42.3 overs)	Ireland won by 9 wickets (scorecard)	Canada 185 all out (48 overs)
2009–2014
2009 Division Seven	Guernsey	King George V Sports Ground, Castel	Bahrain 207/7 (46.1 overs)	Bahrain won by 3 wickets (scorecard)	Guernsey 204/9 (50.0 overs)
2009 Division Six	Singapore	Kallang Cricket Ground, Singapore	Singapore 242/8 (50.0 overs)	Singapore won by 68 runs (scorecard)	Bahrain 174 all out (48.4 overs)
2010 Division Five	Nepal	TU Cricket Ground, Kathmandu	Nepal 173/5 (46.5 overs)	Nepal won by 5 wickets (Match report)	United States 172 (47.2 overs)
2010 Division One	Netherlands	VRA Cricket Ground, Amstelveen	Ireland 233/4 (44.5 overs)	Ireland won by 6 wickets (scorecard)	Scotland 232 (44.5 overs)
2010 Division Four	Italy	Centro Sportivo Dozza, Pianoro	United States 188/2 (21.4 overs)	United States won by 8 wickets (Match report)	Italy 185/9 (50.0 overs)
2010 Division Eight	Kuwait	Kuwait Oil Company Hubara Ground, Ahmadi City	Kuwait 164/4 (33.1 overs)	Kuwait won by 6 wickets (Match report)	Germany 163/8 (50.0 overs)
2011 Division Three	Hong Kong	Kowloon Cricket Club, Hong Kong	Hong Kong 207/6 (47.1 overs)	Hong Kong won by 4 wickets (Match report)	Papua New Guinea 202/9 (50 overs)
2011 Division Two	UAE	DSC Cricket Stadium, Dubai	United Arab Emirates 201/5 (45.3 overs)	United Arab Emirates won by 5 wickets (Match report)	Namibia 200 (49.3 overs)
2011 Division Seven	Botswana	Botswana Cricket Association Oval 1, Gaborone	Kuwait 219/9 (50 overs)	Kuwait won by 72 runs (Match report)	Nigeria 147 (36.5 overs)
2011 Division Six	Malaysia	Kinrara Academy Oval, Kuala Lumpur	Guernsey 211/8 (49.3 overs)	Guernsey won by 2 wickets (Match report)	Malaysia 208/9 (50 overs)
2012 Division Five	Singapore	Kallang Ground, Singapore	Singapore 164/1 (26.4 overs)	Singapore won by 9 wickets (Match report)	Malaysia 159 (47 overs)
2012 Division Four	Malaysia	Kinrara Academy Oval, Kuala Lumpur	Nepal 147/2 (28 overs)	Nepal won by 8 wickets (Match Report)	United States 145 (48.1 overs)
2013 Division Three	Bermuda	National Stadium, Hamilton	Nepal 153/5 (39.2 overs)	Nepal won by 5 wickets Scorecard	Uganda 151/8 (50.0 overs)
2014 ICC World Cup Qualifier	New Zealand
2012–2018
2012 Division Eight	Samoa	Faleata Oval No 1, Apia	Vanuatu 222/9 (50 overs)	Vanuatu won by 39 runs (Match report)	Ghana 183 (42.5 overs)
2013 Division Seven	Botswana	Botswana Cricket Association Oval 1, Gaborone	Nigeria 134/4 (32.1 overs)	Nigeria won by 6 wickets Scorecard	Vanuatu 133 (38.4 overs)

See also

• ICC Intercontinental Cup – the equivalent first class competition

External links

• ICC – World Cricket League