An ICC Media Release issued on Monday (August 12, 2019) outlines the path to the 2023 Cricket World Cup in India. The twelve ICC Full Members and the Netherlands (as winners of the ICC World Cricket League Championship 2015-2017) will play in the Cricket World Cup Super League that will begin in May 2020. There will be 156 ODIs in this new World Cup Super League with each team taking part in 8 bilateral series. Each bilateral series will comprise 3 ODIs, so each team will play 24 ODIs in this new World Cup Super League. The host nation (India) and 7 teams will automatically qualify for the 2023 World Cup. The bottom 5 teams (assuming India is not in the bottom five) will participate in the 2022 Cricket World Cup Qualifier.
What had been the ICC World Cricket League Championship is “reincarnated” (to use ICC Media’s terminology) as the Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2 and has seven teams. Scotland, Nepal and the United Arab Emirates qualified based on their finishing positions in the 2018 World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe. The other four teams in World Cup League 2 are the top four from the April 2019 ICC World Cricket League Division 2, namely Nepal, Namibia, Papua New Guinea and the United States of America. Each team will participate in 9 tri-series, each tri- series will comprise 6 ODIs so each team will play 36 ODIs. The top three teams advance to the 2022 Cricket World Cup Qualifier. The bottom four teams will play in the 2022 Cricket World Cup Qualifier Playoff.
The first tri-series in Cricket World Cup League 2 is due to begin in Aberdeen on Wednesday (August 14, 2019) when Oman play Papua New Guinea. Hosts Scotland are the third team involved in this tri-series.
Canada in new Cricket World Cup Challenge League
Canada is to play in the new Cricket World Cup Challenge League comprises the teams ranked 21st through 32nd under the current World Cricket League structure. Canada ended in fifth place in the standings of the six team 2019 ICC World Cricket League Division 2, equal on points with Papua New Guinea (both teams Won 2 and Lost 3 in the round-robin phase) but placed lower due to an inferior Net Run Rate. Papua New Guinea’s NRR was -0.403 while Canada ended on – 0.415.
The ICC Media release outline about the new Cricket World Cup Challenge League stated:
“The teams for ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Challenge League A and B have now been confirmed. In Challenge League A the six sides will be Canada, Denmark, Malaysia, Qatar, Singapore and Vanuatu. In Challenge League B the six sides will be Bermuda, Hong Kong, Italy, Jersey, Kenya and Uganda.”
“Each league will play in a six-team tournament format each year, meaning each team will play five matches annually. These will both be classified as List-A leagues and matches played will have List-A status. The first Challenge League A event will be played in September 2019.”
The top team from each of Challenge Leagues A and B will play in the 2022 Cricket World Cup Qualifier Play-off against the bottom four teams from League 2. So the new Challenge League provides the opportunity to move up the ladder into the next edition of Cricket World Cup League 2 by finishing in the top four of the 2022 CWC Qualifier Playoff and the chance to reach the 2023 Cricket World Cup. [*]
The top two in the CWC Qualifier Playoff advance to the CWC Qualifier and could reach the reach the 2023 Cricket World Cup. So Canada has to place first in Challenge League A, then finish in the top two of the CWC Qualifier Playoff to reach the CWC Qualifier, then finish in the top two of the CWC Qualifier to reach the 2023 Cricket World Cup in India. If Canada managed to finish first in the CWC Qualifier then Canada could jump up to the heights of the next edition of the CWC Super League. [*]
The bottom 2 teams from each of Challenge League A and B will end up in the Cricket World Cup Challenge Playoff. Four countries from outside the above pathway to the 2023 CWC that rank within the Men’s ICC T20I top 40 as of December 31, 2022 and that meet some other minimum criteria set by the ICC will gain the opportunity to play in that Cricket World Cup Challenge Playoff 2022. The top four in the Challenge Playoff would qualify for the next Challenge League while the bottom four would drop out of the ICC’s top 32 in 50-over cricket.
So the immediate target for Canada in this new structure seems to be a need to come top of the inaugural 2019-2021 Cricket World Cup Challenge League A. Perhaps, at some unknown future date, there may be a change to allow the top two rather than just the top team from Challenge Leagues A and B to participate in the Challenge playoff. But that “perhaps” does not seem to exist today unless I mis-read something in the ICC Media Release and the associated four pages called “ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 Qualification Pathway Frequently Asked Questions”.
There will be 15 List A per team in the CWC Challenge League according to the “Frequently Asked Questions”. It’s not a lot of games if bad weather comes at the wrong times.
[*] Corrected (August 14, 2019) to confirm the top two from the CWC Challenge Playoff would qualify for the Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2022 and amended to show how Canada could reach the 2023 Cricket World Cup and qualify for either the next CWC Super League or the next CWC League 2. (EN)
Eddie Norfolk