The road to the 13th edition of the ICC ODI World Cup begins this Sunday with the Qualifiers getting underway in Zimbabwe.
The tournament will serve as a prelude to the main event that is set to take place in India in the months of October and November this year, deciding the teams that will fill up the final vacant spots and join te eight teams that have automatically qualified for ICC’s showpiece event.
This could also be the last time we’re witnessing the World Cup Qualifiers taking place, given the ODI World Cup is set to become a 14-team affair from the 2027 edition. Which would perhaps make this event a lot more significant.
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Ahead of the Qualifiers, we take a look at the format, dates and other key details pertaining to the event:
How many teams are participating
A total of 10 teams will take part in the Cricket World Cup Qualifiers, including four Full Members. Former world champions West Indies (1975, 1979) and Sri Lanka (1996) along with hosts Zimbabwe and Ireland are the four Test-playing nations. Sri Lanka, who have also finished runners-up twice, are playing Qualifiers for the first time while 1983 runners-up West Indies are making their second consecutive appearance in the event.
The six Associate nations that have made it this far are Nepal, Netherlands, Oman, Scotland, UAE and USA. Netherlands finished at the bottom of the 13-team CWC Super League, and thus enter this competition along with the above-mentioned Test teams.
Scotland, Oman and Nepal qualified after finishing in the top three spots at the end of the Cricket World Cup League Two. USA and UAE qualified after finishing in the top two spots in the Cricket World Cup Qualifier Play-Off that took place in Namibia in March and April this year.
How many teams will qualify for the World Cup?
Only two teams will progress to the 10-team World Cup that takes place in India later this year. The 10 teams will be divided into two groups of five, with a team playing each of the remaining four sides once.
The top three teams from each group then progress to the Super Sixes stage, with the points accumulated against the other teams advancing from their group getting carried over to the second round. Teams in the Super Sixes then square off against the three sides qualifying from the other group.
The top two teams at the end of this stage will then book their tickets for India. They will also square off in the CWC Qualifier Final to determine the winner of the competition.
Additionally, the four teams that miss out on the Super Six stage will square off against one another to determine the standings from seventh to 10th. As a result, a total of 34 matches will be taking place in the tournament.
What do the two groups in the CWC Qualifier look like?
Group A: Netherlands, Nepal, United States, West Indies, Zimbabwe
Group B: Ireland, Oman, Scotland, Sri Lanka, United Arab Emirates
Squads:
Zimbabwe: Craig Ervine (c), Innocent Kaia, Joylord Gumbie, Wessly Madhevere, Sean Williams, Sikandar Raza, Ryan Burl, Clive Madande, Tadiwanashe Marumani, Wellington Masakadza, Luke Jongwe, Bradley Evans, Tendai Chatara, Blessing Muzarabani, Richard Ngarava.
Sri Lanka: Dasun Shanaka (c), Kusal Mendis, Pathum Nissanka, Dimuth Karunaratne, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dushan Hemantha, Wanindu Hasaranga, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Chamika Karunaratne, Lahiru Kumara, Dushmantha Chameera, Kasun Rajitha, Maheesh Thikshana, Matheesha Pathirana.
West Indies: Shai Hope (c), Shamarh Brooks, Brandon King, Kyle Mayers, Rovman Powell, Keacy Carty, Roston Chase, Yannic Cariah, Jason Holder, Nicholas Pooran, Akeal Hosein, Gudakesh Motie, Keemo Paul, Romario Shepherd, Alzarri Joseph.
Ireland: Andrew Balbirnie (c), PJ Moor, Paul Stirling, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Mark Adair, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Graham Hume, Josh Little, Andy McBrine, Barry McCarthy, Ben White, Craig Young.
Netherlands: Scott Edwards (c), Max O’Dowd, Vikramjit Singh, Michael Levitt, Wesley Barresi, Bas de Leede, Noah Croes, Teja Nidamanuru, Shariz Ahmed, Saqib Zulfiqar, Logan van Beek, Aryan Dutt, Clayton Floyd, Ryan Klein, Vivian Kingma. Reserve: Kyle Klein
Nepal: Rohit Paudel (c), Kushal Bhurtel, Aasif Sheikh, Gyanendra Malla, Kushal Malla, Gulsan Jha, Aarif Sheikh, Dipendra Singh Airee, Sandeep Lamichhane, Sompal Kami, Karan KC, Bhim Sharki, Lalit Rajbanshi, Pratish JC, Arjun Saud, Kishor Mahato
USA: Monank Patel (c), Steven Taylor, Sushant Modani, Saiteja Mukkamalla, Aaron Jones, Abhishek Paradkar, Gajanand Singh, Jasdeep Singh, Nostush Kenjige, Shayan Jahangir, Usman Rafiq, Nisarg Patel, Saurabh Netravalkar, Ali Khan, Kyle Philip.
Scotland: Richie Berrington (c), Matthew Cross, George Munsey, Chris McBride, Brandon McMullen, Tom Mackintosh, Jack Jarvis, Michael Leask, Chris Greaves, Mark Watt, Safyaan Sharif, Chris Sole, Adrian Neill, Alasdair Evans, Hamza Tahir.
Oman: Zeeshan Maqsood (c), Aqib Ilyas (vc), Jatinder Singh, Kashyap Prajapati, Shoaib Khan, Mohammed Nadeem, Sandeep Goud, Ayaan Khan, Suraj Kumar, Naseem Khushi, Bilal Khan, Kaleemullah, Fayyaz Butt, Jay Odedra, Samay Shrivastav. Reserves: Rafiullah, Adeel Shafique
Venues:
Four venues in two Zimbabwean cities will be hosting the 34 matches — Harare Sports Club and Takashinga Cricket Club in Harare and the Queen’s Sports Club and Bulawayo Athletic Club in Bulawayo.
While all four venues will host matches during the group stage, Harare Sports Club and Queen’s Sports Club, Zimbabwe’s premier Test venues, will be hosting the Super Six matches with HSC hosting the final between the top two sides. Takashinga Cricket Club, meanwhile, will host the Playoff matches involving the four teams that did not make the Super Sixes.
Schedule:
Group stage
18 June: Zimbabwe v Nepal, Harare Sports Club; West Indies v USA, Takashinga Cricket Club
19 June: Sri Lanka v UAE, Queen’s Sports Club; Ireland v Oman, Bulawayo Athletic Club
20 June: Zimbabwe v Netherlands, Harare Sports Club; Nepal v USA, Takashinga Cricket Club
21 June: Ireland v Scotland, Queen’s Sports Club; Oman v UAE, Bulawayo Athletic Club
22 June: West Indies v Nepal, Harare Sports Club; Netherlands v USA, Takashinga Cricket Club
23 June: Sri Lanka v Oman, Queen’s Sports Club; Scotland v UAE, Bulawayo Athletic Club
24 June: Zimbabwe v West Indies, Harare Sports Club; Netherlands v Nepal, Takashinga Cricket Club
25 June: Sri Lanka v Ireland, Queen’s Sports Club; Scotland v Oman, Bulawayo Athletic Club
26 June: Zimbabwe v USA, Harare Sports Club; West Indies v Netherlands, Takashinga Cricket Club
27 June: Sri Lanka v Scotland, Queen’s Sports Club; Ireland v UAE, Bulawayo Athletic Club
Super Six stage and Playoffs
29 June: Super 6: A2 v B2, Queen’s Sports Club
30 June: Super 6: A3 v B1, Queen’s Sports Club; Playoff: A5 v B4, Takashinga Cricket Club
1 July: Super 6: A1 v B3, Harare Sports Club
2 July: Super 6: A2 v B1, Queen’s Sports Club; Playoff: A4 v B5, Takashinga Cricket Club
3 July: Super 6: A3 v B2, Harare Sports Club
4 July: Super 6: A2 v B3, Queen’s Sports Club; Playoff: 7th v 8th Takashinga Cricket Club
5 July: Super Six: A1 v B2, Harare Sports Club
6 July: Super Six: A3 v B3, Queen’s Sports Club; Playoff: 9th v 10th Takashinga Cricket Club
7 July: Super Six: A1 v B1, Harare Sports Club
Final
9 July at the Harare Sports Club
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