World Cricket League
Administrator | International Cricket Council |
---|---|
Format | One Day International List A |
First edition | 2007-09 |
Tournament format | League system |
Number of teams | 87 nations |
Current champion | Ireland |
Most successful | Ireland (1 victory) |
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 affliate 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.[1]
Structure
The initial league began in 2007 with seven tournaments over five global divisions, based upon previous world rankings.[2][3] 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 1,2 and 3.
When most of the divisions are played, two teams will be promoted, two relegated and two remain for the next installment, 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 installment. 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 subsuquent cycles, are administered by the five Development Regions of the International Cricket Council: Africa, Americas, Asia, East Asia-Pacific, and Europe.[1][2]
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 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 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. Afghanistan, Canada, Netherlands, 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
Ranks as at 28 February 2010 according to ICC:[4]
Rank | Nation | Regional Rank |
---|---|---|
11 | Ireland | Europe No.1 Associate/Affiliate member |
12 | Kenya | Africa No. 1 Associate/Affiliate member |
13 | Netherlands | Europe 2 |
14 | Afghanistan | Asia No. 1 Associate/Affiliate member |
15 | Scotland | Europe 3 |
16 | Canada | Americas No.1 Associate/Affiliate member |
17 | United Arab Emirates | Asia 2 |
18 | Namibia | Africa 2 |
19 | Bermuda | Americas 2 |
20 | Uganda | Africa 3 |
21 | Oman | Asia 3 |
22 | Denmark | Europe 4 |
23 | Papua New Guinea | East Asia - Pacific No.1 Associate/Affiliate member |
24 | Hong Kong | Asia 4 |
25 | Cayman Islands | Americas 3 |
26 | Argentina | Americas 4 |
27 | Italy | Europe 5 |
28 | Tanzania | Africa 4 |
29 | Nepal | Asia 5 |
30 | United States | Americas 5 |
31 | Bahrain | Asia 6 |
32 | Singapore | Asia 7 |
33 | Jersey | Europe 6 |
34 | Fiji | EAP 2 |
35 | Guernsey | Europe 7 |
36 | Malaysia | Asia 8 |
37 | Botswana | Africa 5 |
38 | Norway | Europe 8 |
39 | Nigeria | Africa 6 |
40 | Japan | EAP 3 |
41 | Suriname | Americas 6 |
42 | Gibraltar | Europe 9 |
=43 | Bahamas | Americas 7 |
=43 | Bhutan | Asia 9/10 |
=43 | Kuwait | Asia 9/10 |
=43 | Vanuatu | EAP 4 |
Regional Rankings
Africa | Americas | Asia | East-Asia Pacific | Europe |
---|---|---|---|---|
7 - Zambia | 8 - Panama | 11 - Qatar | 5 - Samoa | 10 - France |
8 - Mozambique | 9 - Turks & Caicos | 12 - Saudi Arabia | 6 - Cook Islands | 11 - Germany |
9 - Ghana | 10 - Brazil | 13 - Maldives | 7 - Tonga | 12 - Croatia |
10 - Swaziland | 11 - Belize | 14 - Thailand | 8 - Indonesia | 13 - Israel |
11 - Malawi | 12 - Chile | 15 - Iran | 9-10 - Philippines | 14 - Isle of Man |
12 - Sierra Leone | 13 - Peru | 16 - Brunei | 9-10 - South Korea | 15 - Spain |
13 - Rwanda | 14-17 - Costa Rica | 17 - China | 16 - Belgium | |
14 - Gambia | 14-17 - Cuba | 18 - Myanmar | 17 - Portugal | |
15 - Lesotho | 14-17 - Falkland Islands | 18 - Cyprus | ||
16 - Morocco | 14-17 - Mexico | 19 - Malta | ||
17-19 - Cameroon | 20 - Switzerland | |||
17-19 - Mali | 21 - Austria | |||
17-19 - St. Helena | 22 - Luxembourg | |||
23 - Finland | ||||
24 - Greece | ||||
25 - Slovenia | ||||
26 - Sweden | ||||
27 - Czech Republic | ||||
28 - Bulgaria | ||||
29 - Estonia | ||||
30 - Turkey |
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) |
2009-13 |
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) | |||
2009-2013 | ||||||||
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) |
Notes
- ^ a b "ICC World Cricket LEague Division 1-5 Structure for 2006-2009". ICC. Retrieved 2009-05-18.
- ^ a b "ICC World Cricket League - About the Event". ICC. Retrieved 2009-05-18.
- ^ Lyall, Rob (September 10, 2006). "Opportunities for Europe as WCL expands". CricketEurope. Retrieved 2009-05-18.
- ^ "ICC World Cricket League Rankings". ICC. Retrieved 2009-05-18.
See also
- ICC Intercontinental Cup - the equivalent first class competition