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,[1] 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.[2]
Group Stages:
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Group Standings: Norway, Greece, Malta and Austria progressed to the Championship Group.
| Championship Group | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Pts | Pld | W | L |
 Norway |
6 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
 Austria |
2 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
 Malta |
2 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
 Greece |
2 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
Final Standings: Norway qualified to participate in European Championships 2nd Division 2004, after finishing on top of the championship group.
Affiliates Tournaments
ICC WCQS Tournament - Africa Affiliates
Held in Africa during March 2004, 8 teams (from 7 countries and a South Africa Country Districts team) played off in two groups of four. After each team has played one game against the other three teams in their pool, the top two teams advanced to the next round. The two top teams in each group progressed, playing semi-finals, a third-place play-off and a final, where South Africa Country Districts defeated Botswana.[3]
Final Standings:
- In bold: Advanced to the ICC Six Nations WCQS Tournament
- Botswana qualified to participate in the ICC Six Nations WCQS Tournament, after being the country with the highest standing at the end of the tournament
- In italics: Won tournament but was not eligible to advance to next the stage
- South Africa Country Districts were undefeated throughout the tournament, but because they were not a country, were not eligible to advance to the ICC Six Nations WCQS Tournament
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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.[4] Five ICC Affiliate members played off in a round-robin format from 23 March to 27 March, playing each other once.
| Team | Pts | Pld | W | L | NR | NRR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Bahamas |
24 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2.368 |
 Panama |
18 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0.898 |
 Belize |
12 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1.159 |
 Turks and Caicos Islands |
6 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | -1.998 |
 Suriname |
0 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | -2.208 |
European Championships 2nd Division 2004
Competed in Belgium in 2004 and separate to the 1st Division Championships for the first time, six countries played off on four grounds in Antwerp, Brussels and Mechelen.[5] Italy went through unbeaten, qualifying for a play off at the ICC World Cup Qualifying Series Division 2 for the twelfth and final place for the 2005 ICC Trophy.
| Team | Pts | Pld | W | T | NR | L |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Italy |
10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
 France |
6 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
 Germany |
6 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Norway |
4 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
 Gibraltar |
4 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
 Israel |
0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
Final Regional Qualifying Events
Asian Cricket Council Trophy
Hosted in Malaysia in June 2004, the ACC Trophy[6] was contested by 15 countries divided into four groups. The tournament then progressed into a knockout phase, with the top two teams from each group progressing to the quarter finals. At the end of the tournament, the runner-up Oman and the winner United Arab Emirates, did enough to secure themselves a spot in the ICC Trophy.
ICC Six Nations WCQS Tournament
Both Namibia and Uganda qualified for the ICC Trophy after they finished ahead of the other four teams in a round robin tournament played in Zambia in August 2004.[7]
| Team | Pts | Pld | W | L | RRF | RRA | NRR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Namibia |
25 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 5.11 | 2.31 | 2.80 |
 Uganda |
20 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 3.77 | 2.99 | 0.78 |
 Zambia |
10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3.58 | 3.98 | -0.40 |
 Botswana |
10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4.24 | 4.59 | -0.35 |
 Nigeria |
5 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 3.34 | 4.91 | -1.57 |
 Tanzania |
5 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 3.01 | 5.08 | -2.07 |
European Championships 2004
Even though the tournament isn't considered to be a qualification tournament, the European Championship[8] 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.
| Team | Pts | Pld | W | T | NR | L |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 ECB England XI |
8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
 Ireland |
6 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 Netherlands |
4 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
 Scotland |
2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
 Denmark |
0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
Americas Cricket Championship
Bermuda hosted the 2004 Americas Cricket Championship[9] in July 2004, which was played as a round robin tournament with the top three out of the six teams preogressing through to the ICC Trophy.
| Team | Pts | Pld | W | L | NR | NRR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Canada |
20 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2.157 |
 United States |
16 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2.132 |
 Bermuda |
12 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0.944 |
 Cayman Islands |
8 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | -0.198 |
 Argentina |
4 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | -2.007 |
| Bahamas |
0 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | -2.226 |
ICC East Asia-Pacific Cricket Challenge 2004
Japan hosted the tournament[10] from May 25 to May 29 in 2004, with teams from Fiji, Indonesia, Japan and Tonga contesting in a round robin format, with the top two ranked teams, Fiji and Tonga, playing in a final to decide the tournament winner. Fiji beat Tonga in the final by 181 runs, hence qualifying to the ICC World Cup Qualifying Series Division 2.
| Team | Pld | W | L |
|---|---|---|---|
 Fiji |
3 | 3 | 0 |
 Tonga |
3 | 2 | 1 |
 Indonesia |
3 | 1 | 2 |
 Japan |
3 | 0 | 3 |
World Cup Qualifying Series Division 2 2005
This new event[11] 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 26 February, beating Fiji by 30 runs. Papua New Guinea therefore managed to grab the final spot into the ICC Trophy.
Group A
| Team | Pts | Pld | W | T | L |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Papua New Guinea |
6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
 Nepal |
4 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
 Kuwait |
2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Italy |
0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Group B
| Team | Pts | Pld | W | T | L |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fiji |
6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
 Qatar |
4 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Cayman Islands |
2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Zambia |
0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Semi-finals | Final | ||||||
| 25 February - Selangor Turf Club | |||||||
| Papua New Guinea |
9/260 | ||||||
| Qatar |
10/224 | ||||||
| 27 February - Royal Selangor Club | |||||||
| Papua New Guinea |
10/176 | ||||||
| Fiji |
10/146 | ||||||
| Third place | |||||||
| 25 February - Bayumas Oval | 27 February - Bayumas Oval | ||||||
| Fiji |
8/143 | Nepal |
7/176 | ||||
| Nepal |
10/140 | 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 US$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.
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Notes and references
- ↑ International Cricket Council All about five… qualifying steps to the ICC Cricket World Cup
- ↑ ECC Trophy 2003, from cricketeurope.net, retrieved 5 July 2006
- ↑ Scorecards from the African Affiliates Tournament, from ICC, retrieved 5 July 2006
- ↑ International Cricket Council Americas Affiliates Championship 2004
- ↑ European Cricket Council European Championships 2nd Division 2004
- ↑ Cricinfo Asian Cricket Council Trophy, Jun 2004
- ↑ International Cricket Council Six Nations WCQS Tournament
- ↑ European Cricket Council European Championships 2004
- ↑ International Cricket Council WCQS-Associates
- ↑ Japan Cricket Association East Asia Pacific Cricket Challenge
- ↑ Cricket Europe World Cup Qualifying Series Division 2, 2005