2019–22 ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League

2019–2022 ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League
Dates16 September 2019 – 13 December 2022
Administrator(s)International Cricket Council
Cricket formatList A
Tournament format(s)Round-robin
Host(s)
League A
League B
Champions Canada (League A)
 Jersey (League B)
Participants12
Matches90
Most runsDenmark Hamid Shah (605) (League A)
Jersey Nick Greenwood (809) (League B)
Most wicketsSingapore Aryaman Sunil (27) (League A)
Italy Gareth Berg (34) (League B)

The 2019–2022 ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League was the inaugural edition of the ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League and a cricket tournament which formed part of the 2023 Cricket World Cup Qualification process.[1][2] The Challenge League replaced the World Cricket League (WCL) which was previously used as the pathway to the Cricket World Cup.[3] The first fixtures took place in September 2019, with all matches having List A status.[4]

The league featured the twelve teams ranked from 21st to 32nd place in the WCL following the conclusion of the 2019 ICC World Cricket League Division Two tournament in Namibia.[3] The twelve teams were split into two groups, with each group playing a six-team tournament three times on an annual basis.[3]

The top team in each group advanced to the Qualifier Play-off, which fed into the 2022 Cricket World Cup Qualifier tournament.[1] The remaining ten teams could not qualify for the 2023 World Cup.[5]

In addition, either of the top teams in the Challenge League could qualify for promotion to the next edition of the Cricket World Cup League 2 by outperforming the two last-placed teams in the 2019–22 ICC Cricket World Cup League 2. Whichever two of these four teams were ranked higher in the Qualifier Play-off played in the next League 2 while the two teams ranked lower played in the next Challenge League.[6]

In an attempt to remain in the Challenge League for the next edition, the bottom four teams in this League (two from each section, A and B) would play in a relegation play-off tournament - facing teams hoping to come up from below.

Participants

See also: 2017–19 ICC World Cricket League § Tournament results

The following teams were ranked from 21st to 32nd in the World Cricket League following the conclusion of the 2019 ICC World Cricket League Division Two tournament,[7] and were allocated to Groups A and B.[8][9]

League Team WCL rank Last WCL tournament Position
A  Canada 21 Division Two in 2019 5th[10]
 Singapore 23 Division Three in 2018 3rd[11]
 Denmark 25 Division Three in 2018 5th[11]
 Malaysia 27 Division Four in 2018 3rd[12]
 Vanuatu 29 Division Four in 2018 5th[12]
 Qatar 31 Division Five in 2017 3rd[13]
B  Hong Kong 22 Division Two in 2019 6th[10]
 Kenya 24 Division Three in 2018 4th[11]
 Uganda 26 Division Three in 2018 6th[11]
 Jersey 28 Division Four in 2018 4th[12]
 Bermuda 30 Division Four in 2018 6th[12]
 Italy 32 Division Five in 2017 4th[13]

Fixtures

Each group was scheduled to play three times in a single round-robin tournament format, once each year from 2019 to 2022. This amounts to 15 matches per team and a grand total of 90 matches.[6] In July 2019, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced that the Malaysian Cricket Association and Cricket Hong Kong would host the 2019 rounds of the tournament.[14] However, citing the instability in Hong Kong, the 2019 matches in League B were moved to Oman.[15] In October 2019, the ICC confirmed that Malaysia would again be the host for the 2020 round of matches in League A, with the Uganda Cricket Association hosting the League B matches.[16]

The 2020 League A tournament in Malaysia was originally scheduled to take place in March 2020.[17] However, in March 2020, the tournament was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and rescheduled for 30 September to 10 October 2020.[18][19] On 10 June 2020, the 2020 League B tournament in Uganda was also postponed due to the pandemic.[20] On 25 August 2020, the rescheduled 2020 League A tournament was postponed again.[21] In December 2020, the ICC announced a revised schedule following the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.[22] In April 2021, the League A tournament in Canada was postponed by one year, with the League A tournament in Malaysia tentatively brought forward to the end of 2021.[23][24] In July 2021, the League B tournament scheduled to take place in Jersey in September 2021, was tentatively rescheduled to take place in Hong Kong in December 2021.[25]

League Date Location Notes
A 16–26 September 2019 Malaysia
B 2–12 December 2019 Oman
B 17–27 June 2022 Uganda Originally scheduled for August 2020; postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic
A 27 July – 6 August 2022 Canada Originally scheduled for July 2021; postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic
B 4 – 14 August 2022 Jersey Originally scheduled for September 2021; postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic
A 3–13 December 2022 Malaysia Originally scheduled for October 2020; postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Points tables

League A

Pos Team
 Pld W L T NR Pts NRR Qualification
1  Canada 15 13 1 0 1 27 2.563 Advanced to the 2023 Cricket World Cup Qualifier Play-off
2  Denmark 15 8 6 0 1 17 0.573
3  Qatar 15 8 6 0 1 17 −0.369
4  Singapore 15 7 8 0 0 14 −0.061
5  Malaysia 15 4 11 0 0 8 −1.058 Advanced to the 2024 ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League Play-off
6  Vanuatu 15 3 11 0 1 7 −1.365
Source: ESPN Cricinfo[26]

League B

Pos Team
 Pld W L T NR Pts NRR Qualification
1  Jersey 15 11 4 0 0 22 1.541 Advanced to the 2023 Cricket World Cup Qualifier Play-off
2  Uganda 15 11 4 0 0 22 1.062
3  Hong Kong 15 9 5 0 1 19 0.548
4  Kenya 15 7 7 0 1 15 0.188
5  Italy 15 5 9 0 1 11 −0.626 Advanced to the 2024 ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League Play-off
6  Bermuda 15 0 14 0 1 1 −3.192
Source: ESPN Cricinfo[27]

Statistics

League A

Most runs

Player Matches Innings Runs Average SR HS 100 50 4s 6s
Denmark Hamid Shah 14 14 605 43.21 70.76 138 1 5 52 10
Canada Navneet Dhaliwal 8 8 479 79.83 91.76 140 1 3 52 16
Qatar Mohammed Rizlan 14 14 418 32.15 59.54 77 0 3 40 6
Denmark Zameer Khan 13 13 404 31.07 57.79 60 0 1 28 0
Malaysia Virandeep Singh 13 13 394 32.83 56.28 73 0 3 32 3
Source: ESPNcricinfo[28]

Most wickets

Player Matches Innings Wickets Overs Econ. Ave. BBI S/R 4WI 5WI
Singapore Aryaman Sunil 15 15 27 109.5 5.91 24.07 6/32 24.4 2 1
Denmark Nicolaj Laegsgaard 14 14 26 116.0 3.28 14.65 6/6 26.7 1 1
Canada Saad Bin Zafar 14 14 25 110.5 2.94 13.04 5/18 26.6 0 2
Qatar Mohammed Nadeem 14 14 24 123.0 3.87 19.87 5/18 30.7 0 1
Singapore Vinoth Baskaran 14 14 20 122.4 3.62 22.15 3/26 36.8 0 0
Source: ESPNcricinfo[29]

League B

Most runs

Player Matches Innings Runs Average SR HS 100 50 4s 6s
Jersey Nick Greenwood 15 15 809 53.93 96.53 141 3 5 93 12
Uganda Ronak Patel 15 14 640 58.18 75.73 121* 1 6 76 2
Hong Kong Kinchit Shah 15 15 615 51.25 84.24 139 3 3 64 11
Kenya Rakep Patel 15 14 600 46.15 94.63 113 2 3 57 23
Jersey Harrison Carlyon 14 14 547 42.07 80.91 96 0 4 80 3
Source: ESPNcricinfo[30]

Most wickets

Player Matches Innings Wickets Overs Econ. Ave. BBI S/R 4WI 5WI
Italy Gareth Berg 15 15 34 128.4 3.66 13.85 5/51 22.7 2 1
Jersey Julius Sumerauer 15 15 26 107.4 4.57 18.96 6/32 24.8 0 1
Hong Kong Ehsan Khan 14 13 22 114.1 3.88 20.18 4/17 31.1 2 0
Uganda Dinesh Nakrani 15 15 21 117.2 4.47 25.00 3/20 33.5 0 0
Kenya Shem Ngoche 13 13 20 113.5 3.71 21.15 3/24 34.1 0 0
Source: ESPNcricinfo[31]

See also

References

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  2. ^ "Associates pathway to 2023 World Cup undergoes major revamp". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 20 October 2018.
  3. ^ a b c "ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Qualification Pathway frequently asked questions". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
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  5. ^ "Xavier Marshall in USA squad for WCL Division Two". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  6. ^ a b "ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 Qualification Pathway Frequently Asked Questions" (PDF). International Cricket Council. 12 August 2019. Retrieved 6 March 2020. Then, two places were up for grabs in the next edition of the CWC League Two: a. This were decided between four sides, comprising the sixth and seventh ranked teams from CWC League Two 2019-2021 and table-toppers from CWC Challenge League A and B 2019-2021. b. The top two sides from this group of four would feature in the CWC League 2 in the next edition. c. The bottom two sides from this group would play in CWC Challenge League A and B for the next edition.
  7. ^ "All to play for in last ever World Cricket League tournament". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  8. ^ "Hong Kong to play in group B of ICC Challenge League". Hong Kong Cricket. 27 April 2019. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
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  10. ^ a b "Namibia crowned ICC World Cricket League Division 2 champions with victory over Oman". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 27 April 2019.
  11. ^ a b c d "Kenya relegated to World Cup Challenge League". Daily Nation, Kenya. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
  12. ^ a b c d "Uganda and Denmark qualify for ICC World Cricket League Division 3". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
  13. ^ a b "World Cricket League: Jersey crowned Division Five champions in South Africa". BBC Sport. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  14. ^ "ICC board and full council concludes in London". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
  15. ^ "Politically unstable Hong Kong loses men's CWC Challenge League B hosting rights". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
  16. ^ "Zimbabwe and Nepal readmitted; Women's event prize money receives a major boost". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 14 October 2019.
  17. ^ "Landsholdet til Australien og Malaysia". Dansk Cricket. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  18. ^ "Men's Cricket World Cup Challenge League A postponed due to Coronavirus outbreak". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
  19. ^ "COVID-19 update – ICC qualifying events". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  20. ^ "Two more series on the Road to India 2023 postponed". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  21. ^ "ICC Men's CWC Challenge League A postponed". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
  22. ^ "Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 qualifying matches rescheduled". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  23. ^ "Two Men's Cricket World Cup Challenge League series rescheduled". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  24. ^ "Two remaining men's World Cup Challenge League A series rescheduled". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  25. ^ "Jersey to no longer host Cricket World Cup qualifier". ITV News. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
  26. ^ "CWC Challenge League Group A Table - 2019". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  27. ^ "CWC Challenge League Group B Table - 2019". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
  28. ^ "Records / CWC Challenge League Group A, 2019-2022/23 / Most runs". ESPNcricinfo. 13 December 2022.
  29. ^ "Records / CWC Challenge League Group A, 2019-2022/23 / Most wickets". ESPNcricinfo. 13 December 2022.
  30. ^ "Records / CWC Challenge League Group B, 2019-2022/23 / Most runs". ESPNcricinfo. 14 August 2022.
  31. ^ "Records / CWC Challenge League Group B, 2019-2022/23 / Most wickets". ESPNcricinfo. 14 August 2022.