Photo: Collected
The ICC has announced the schedule a year before the start of the World Cup. The tournament’s qualifier will be held before qualification for the main round. South Africa and Namibia will jointly host the matches between 26 February and 21 March next year.
In this 10-team tournament, in which the West Indies will also take part, the matches will be played in the window after the end of South Africa’s franchise-based T20 league and before the start of the IPL. Ireland will also be in it as the other full member country taking part in the qualifier on the basis of the ICC ODI rankings as of 30 September.
The ICC had told the potential participating teams earlier this year that the tournament would be held between 22 February and 23 March. However, the final schedule was confirmed at the ICC meeting held in Dubai last week. Although the venues have not been formally announced, several officials aware of the discussions told Cricinfo that South Africa and Namibia have been finalised as hosts. The SA20 will begin on 17 January next year and end on 21 February.
On the other hand, the IPL will probably begin in late March, although according to the schedule shared with the franchises in 2024, the 2027 edition was supposed to be held between 14 March and 30 May. As co-hosts, South Africa and Zimbabwe have qualified directly for the World Cup; along with them, the next eight teams in the rankings have also earned direct berths.
These teams are India, New Zealand, Pakistan, Australia, England, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The remaining four teams will be determined through the 10-team qualifier; the winners of the qualifier will take a place directly in the group stage of the World Cup and the remaining three teams will take part in a three-match ‘Super Series’ at the start of the tournament. The winners of that Super Series, to be held in Namibia, will qualify to play in the main group.
Also taking part in the qualifier will be the top four teams of ‘World Cricket League Division 2’ – currently Scotland, the United States, the Netherlands and Oman – and four more teams coming through from the ‘World Cup Qualifier Play-off’. The play-off is scheduled to be held from 1 to 22 December at an undecided venue.
The bottom four teams of World Cricket League Division 2 – currently Namibia, Canada, Nepal and the United Arab Emirates – and the top four teams of the ‘Challenge League’, who as things stand are Italy, Uganda, Jersey and Kuwait, will take part in the play-off.
Co-hosts Namibia still retain the chance of securing a place directly in the qualifier without playing the play-off. For this, they have to win two matches each against both teams – the United States and the United Arab Emirates – in the series starting from 3 October, and at the same time the results of the matches among Oman, Nepal and Canada also have to go in their favour.
