World Cricket League

World Cricket League

File:Image-WCL.jpg Official logo
Administrator	International Cricket Council
Format	One Day International & List A
First edition	2007
Tournament format	League system
Number of teams	87 nations
Current champion	Kenya

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. Teams were allocated to their respective divisions based on their performance in the qualification tournaments for the 2007 World Cup, the six initial teams in Division One being the teams that qualified for the 2007 World Cup. The series will complete its first cycle in 2007. The second cycle begins in 2008 and acts as qualification for the 2011 Cricket World Cup. It will contain two extra divisions being added to the Global World Cricket League.

Structure

The current league structure is organised with the following divisions. The regional tournaments are administered by the five Development Regions of the International Cricket Council: Africa, Americas, Asia, East Asia-Pacific, and Europe.

Summary

The above diagram shows the chronological order and structure of the divisions within the World Cricket League. From left to right the chronology of the divisions is indicated; from top to bottom the hierarchy within the competition. The arrows indicate the number of teams promoted and relegated between leagues

Also see

Details

Global tournaments (chronological order)
2007 Global Division One	1st. Kenya 2nd. Scotland 3rd. Netherlands 4th. Canada 5th. Ireland 6th. Bermuda			All six teams qualify for the 2009 ICC World Cup Qualifier
2007 Global Division Three	1st. Uganda 2nd. Argentina 3rd. Papua New Guinea 4th. Cayman Islands 5th. Hong Kong 6th. Tanzania 7th. Italy 8th. Fiji Argentina replaced United States who were relegated			Uganda and Argentina promoted to 2007 Global Division Two Papua New Guinea and Cayman Islands remain for 2009 Global Division Three Hong Kong, Tanzania, Italy and Fiji relegated to 2008 Global Division Four Played in Darwin, Australia, 27 May - 2 June 2007 Uganda and Argentina also qualified for the High Performance Program (HPP) that helps non-Test nations develop cricket.
2007 Global Division Two	1st. United Arab Emirates 2nd. Oman 3rd. Namibia 4th. Denmark 5th. Uganda 6th. Argentina			United Arab Emirates, Oman, Namibia and Denmark qualify for the 2009 ICC World Cup Qualifier Uganda and Argentina relegated to 2009 Global Division Three Played in Windhoek, Namibia, 24 November - 1 December 2007 Due to the Asian Cricket Association's decision to handle development of their member nations themselves, both Namibia and Denmark joined the HPP as of 1 April 2007
2008 Global Division Five	1st. Afghanistan 2nd. Jersey 3rd. Nepal 4th. United States 5th. Singapore 6th. Botswana 7th. Germany 8th. Mozambique 9th. Norway 10th. Japan 11th. Bahamas 12th. Vanuatu			Afghanistan and Jersey promoted to 2008 Global Division Four Played in Jersey, 23 May - 31 May 2008
2008 Global Division Four	Afghanistan Fiji Hong Kong Italy Jersey Tanzania			1st & 2nd promoted to 2009 Global Division Three To be held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, 4 - 11 October 2008
2009 Global Division Three	Argentina Cayman Islands Papua New Guinea Uganda 1st & 2nd of 2008 Global Division Four			1st & 2nd qualify for the 2009 ICC World Cup Qualifier To be held in Argentina, January 2009
2009 ICC World Cup Qualifier	Bermuda Canada Denmark Ireland Kenya Namibia Netherlands Oman Scotland United Arab Emirates 1st & 2nd of 2009 Global Division Three			1st - 4th qualify for the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup

Regional Tournaments

Regional tournaments
Africa	Americas	Asia	East Asia-Pacific	Europe
2006 Division One 1st. Tanzania 2nd. Botswana 3rd. Mozambique 4th. Zambia 5th. Nigeria Tanzania promoted to 2007 Global Division Three Botswana promoted to 2008 Global Division Five Mozambique promoted to 2008 Global Division Five	2006 Division One 1st. Bermuda 2nd. United States 3rd. Cayman Islands 4th. Canada 5th. Argentina Cayman Islands promoted to 2007 Global Division Three Argentina promoted to 2008 Global Division Five	2006 ACC Trophy 1st. United Arab Emirates 2nd. Hong Kong 3rd. Afghanistan 4th. Nepal 5th. Singapore 6th. Bahrain 7th. Qatar 8th. Malaysia 9th. Kuwait 10th. Saudi Arabia 11th. Oman 12th. Thailand 13th. Bhutan 14th. Maldives 15th. Iran 16th. Brunei 17th. Myanmar Hong Kong promoted to 2007 Global Division Three Afghanistan promoted to 2008 Global Division Five Nepal promoted to 2008 Global Division Five Singapore promoted to 2008 Global Division Five The top 8 sides will form the new 2008 Champions Division (Afghanistan, Bahrain, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Nepal, Qatar, Singapore & U.A.E.) The bottom 9 sides will form the new 2008 Challenger Division (Bhutan, Brunei, Iran, Kuwait, Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Saudi Arabia & Thailand)	2006 EAP Cricket Trophy 1st. Fiji 2nd. Cook Islands 3rd. Japan Fiji promoted to 2007 Global Division Three	2008 Division One Denmark Italy Ireland Netherlands Norway Scotland To be held in Dublin, Ireland 25 - 31 July.
2006 Division Two 1st. Mozambique 2nd. Sierra Leone 3rd. Ghana 4th. Malawi 5th. Morocco 6th. Rwanda 7th. Gambia 8th. Lesotho Mozambique promoted to 2006 Africa Division One	2008 Division Two 1st. Suriname 2nd. Bahamas 3rd. Panama 4th. Turks and Caicos Islands Suriname promoted to 2008 Americas Division One Turks and Caicos Islands relegated to 2010 Americas Division Three		2007 EAP Cricket Trophy 1st. Japan 2nd. Vanuatu 3rd. Cook Islands 4th. Samoa 5th. Tonga 6th. Indonesia Japan promoted to 2008 Global Division Five Vanuatu promoted to 2008 Global Division Five	2008 Division Two Croatia France Germany Gibraltar Guernsey Jersey To be held in Guernsey in August 2008.
2008 Division Three 1st. Ghana 2nd. Eswatini 3rd. Sierra Leone 4th. Rwanda 5rd. Malawi 6th. Lesotho 7th. Gambia Morocco withdrew	2008 Division Three 1st. Turks and Caicos Islands 2nd. Chile 3rd. Belize 4th. Peru 5th. Brazil Turks and Caicos Islands promoted to 2008 Americas Division Two			2009 Division Three Belgium Isle of Man Israel Malta Portugal Spain 6th place will play off with winner of 2009 Division 4 winner for promotion relegation.
				2009 Division Four Austria Cyprus Czech Republic Finland Greece Luxembourg Slovenia Sweden Switzerland Winner to play off with 6th place from 2009 Division Three for opportunity for promotion.

Associate nations' one-day rankings

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 repechage 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 21-23 were placed into Division 3; the remaining teams were placed into the upper divisions of their respective regional qualifiers.

As of 1 April 2006 the top six associates gained one day status.

Kenya and Ireland have both qualified to appear on the main rating table, Kenya from its existing status and Ireland for its two victories in the 2007 World Cup. Scotland, Netherlands, Canada and Bermuda remain on a secondary table using the rules displayed at the following website: http://icc-cricket.yahoo.com/rankings/associate-team-rankings.html

When the lower Global Division tournaments are played the rankings from 17th and lower are expected to change significantly.

Rankings as at completion of 2008 Global Division Five

Rank	Nation	Regional Rank
10 ‡	Ireland	Europe No.1 Associate/Affiliate member
12	Kenya	Africa No. 1 Associate/Affiliate member
13	Scotland	Europe 2
14	Netherlands	Europe 3
15	Canada	Americas No.1 Associate/Affiliate member
16	Bermuda	Americas 2
17	United Arab Emirates	Asia No.1 Associate/Affiliate member
18	Oman	Asia 2
19	Namibia	Africa 2
20	Denmark	Europe 4
21	Uganda	Africa 3
22	Argentina	Americas 3
23	Papua New Guinea	East Asia - Pacific No.1 Associate/Affiliate member
24	Cayman Islands	Americas 4
25	Hong Kong	Asia 3
26	Tanzania	Africa 4
27	Italy	Europe 5
28	Fiji	EAP 2
29	Afghanistan	Asia 4
30	Jersey	Europe 6
31	Nepal	Asia 5
32	United States+	Americas 5
33	Singapore	Asia 6
34	Botswana	Africa 5
35	Germany	Europe 7
36	Mozambique	Africa 6
37	Norway	Europe 8
38	Japan	EAP 3
39	Bahamas	Americas 6
40	Vanuatu	EAP 4

Notes:

‡ Test nation Zimbabwe is currently ranked eleventh, one place below Ireland, due to Ireland's performance at the 2007 ICC World Cup

+ USA demoted from WCL Div 2 to Div 5 (as current bottom Global Division) in March 2007 following ICC Board suspension / de-recognition of USA National Board

Results of global tournaments

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)
2009 WC Qualifier	United Arab Emirates

External links

• ICC World Cricket League is a vital part of cricket's development, says Sonn - ICC website article