2007 Cricket World Cup qualification

The 2007 Cricket World Cup will be contested between 16 of the 97 countries that are members of the International Cricket Council. The 11 teams with One-Day International status at the time of drafting qualify automatically for the ICC Cricket World Cup West Indies 2007. Meanwhile, the 86 Associate and Affiliate countries of the ICC play off in a series of tournaments to capture one of the remaining five spots in the World Cup.

According to the ICC [International Cricket Council [http://www.icc-cricket.com/icc/events/icctrophy/five_steps.html "All about five… qualifying steps to the ICC Cricket World Cup"] ] , there are five steps for the ICC's 86 Associate and Affiliate member countries to qualify for the World Cup. The progression of team qualification is listed out chronologically below.

European Cricket Council Trophy 2003

Held in Austria in August 2003, the European Cricket Council Trophy 2003 was contested by 11 teams across 3 preliminary groups. The top four teams from these groups progressed through to a championship group, where each team played each other once. [ [http://www.cricketeurope4.net/CRICKETEUROPE/DATABASE/2003/TOURNAMENTS/ECCTROPHY/about.shtml ECC Trophy 2003] , from cricketeurope.net, retrieved 5 July 2006]

Group Stages:

Americas Affiliates Championship 2004

Similarly to the African Affiliates playoff, the Americas Affiliates Championship was contested in March 2004 to decide the team that would progress through to the next round. [International Cricket Council [http://www.icc-cricket.com/icc/development/americas/wcqs-affiliates/wcqs-affilates-points.pdf Americas Affiliates Championship 2004] ] Five ICC Affiliate members played off in a round robin format from 23 March to 27 March, playing each other once.

European Championships 2004

Even though the tournament isn't considered to be a qualification tournament, the European Championship [European Cricket Council [http://www.cricketeurope.net/ECC/DATABASE/2004/TOURNAMENTS/EUROCHAMSA/results.shtml European Championships 2004] ] is considered to be the most important European tournament on the calendar. Contested by Denmark, Holland, Ireland, Scotland as well as an ECB England XI, the format is a round robin tournament, with the winner being the team that finishes on top. Denmark, Holland, Ireland and Scotland were already guaranteed a direct spot into the ICC Trophy, with the ECB XI being ineligible.

World Cup Qualifying Series Division 2 2005

This new event [Cricket Europe [http://www.cricketeurope4.net/CRICKETEUROPE/DATABASE/2005/TOURNAMENTS/WCQS2/about.shtml World Cup Qualifying Series Division 2, 2005] ] for the eight teams that had narrowly missed out on direct qualification for the ICC Trophy was played in Malaysia in February 2005. Two groups of four teams each played each other in a round robin stage, with the top two teams from each group progressing to a knockout stage, where the winners would progress to a final. Papua New Guinea emerged winners in Kuala Lumpur on the 26th February, beating Fiji by 30 runs. Papua New Guinea therefore managed to grab the final spot into the ICC Trophy.

Group A

Group B

Round4-with third
25 February - Selangor Turf Club| Cr|Papua New Guinea | 9/260| Cr|Qatar | 10/224
25 February - Bayumas Oval| Cr|Fiji | 8/143 | Cr|Nepal | 10/140
27 February - Royal Selangor Club| Cr|Papua New Guinea | 10/176 | Cr|Fiji | 10/146 |27 February - Bayumas Oval| Cr|Nepal | 7/176 | Cr|Qatar | 10/78

2005 ICC Trophy

The 2005 ICC Trophy was a cricket tournament held in Ireland between 1 July and 13 July. It was an international one-day tournament played over 50 overs per side between 12 associate members of the International Cricket Council. It came with the prize of a place in the 2007 Cricket World Cup (and together with it a share of USD 2,500,000 for future development) for the five top-ranked teams, and with the prize of official One Day International status from 1 January 2006 (until the 2009 ICC Trophy) for the five top-ranked teams along with Kenya, who had already been given official one-day status till the 2009 Trophy.

On 7 July, Ireland, Bermuda, Scotland and Canada qualified for the semi-finals. With that, they also won places in the 2007 Cricket World Cup and, from 1 January 2006, official One Day International status. On 11 July the Netherlands also achieved this by beating the UAE to finish fifth. Scotland won the tournament, beating Ireland in the final.

Notes and references