Canada has drawn defending champions Afghanistan in the opening round of the 2011-2013 Intercontinental Cup. The International Cricket Council’s first class tournament will feature 8 teams and run over 3 years as opposed to the previous editions which ran over two years. Joining Canada in the tournament are Afghanistan, Scotland, Ireland, Namibia, United Arab Emirates, Kenya, and the Netherlands. Canada has not won any of the previous five tournaments but were finalists in 2004 and 2007.
Accompanying this tournament will be a 50 over tournament that creates an international 50 over league. The matches are slated to have full One Day International status however some items are still being reviewed with respect to Namibia and UAE who do not have ODI status.
The countries are in the process of negotiating match schedules for this associates Future Tours Program and matches will be announced in due course.
Afghanistan (June/July 2011), UAE (July/August 2013), and The Netherlands (September 2013) are Canada’s home matches in the tournament. Canada will visit Ireland (September 2012), Namibia (March/April 2012), Scotland (June/July 2012), and Kenya (March/April 2013) over the next 3 years.
The announcement ends speculation about the future of the tournament and gives schedule certainty to the ICC’s top Associate member countries for the next several years.
The ICC will make a decision about Canada and other Associates participation in the 2015 World Cup at their annual conference in June.

ICUP Primer
The ICC Intercontinental Cup has quickly grown in stature and profile since its inception seven years ago. The ICC’s premier first-class tournament is an integral part of the Associate Members’ cricket schedule.
There will be a total of US$254,000 in prize money for the Associate and Affiliate teams taking part in the ICC Intercontinental Cup 2011-13 with US$100,000 for the winners and US$40,000 for the runners-up.
Teams finishing in third and fourth place with receive US$20,000 and US$10,000 respectively while an outright win by any team during the course of the round- robin stage will see it walk away with US$3,000 per match.
Having previously been designed around a two-group, three-day format, the event then evolved into an eight-team, round-robin and truly global tournament featuring four-day cricket which gives those teams who do not play Test cricket the chance to experience the longer form of the game.
This year’s format will include eight teams – Afghanistan, Canada, Ireland, Kenya, Netherlands, Scotland, Namibia and United Arab Emirates.
Scotland won the first ICC Intercontinental Cup in 2004, beating Canada in the final, while Ireland has been victorious in three events since then, beating Kenya in the 2005 decider, Canada in the 2006-07 event, Namibia in 2007-08 while in 2009-10 Afghanistan won the competition.