Dates for first round of ICC Intercontinental Cup 2011-13 released
The International Cricket Council today announced the dates the for the first round of fixtures for the ICC Intercontinental Cup 2011-13 which features teams from Afghanistan, Canada, Ireland, Kenya, Netherlands, Namibia, Scotland and United Arab Emirates (UAE). The teams that finish the competition in first and second place will go on to play in the Intercontinental Cup final scheduled to be played at the end of 2013.
Dates for ICC Intercontinental Cup first round fixtures:
21-24 Jun – Scotland v Netherlands, Aberdeen
28 Jun-1 Jul – Ireland v Namibia, Stormont
28-31 Jul – Kenya v UAE, venue to be confirmed by host board
2-5 Aug – Canada v Afghanistan, Maple Leaf CC
In addition to the ICC Intercontinental Cup fixtures, a 50-over competition is being played between the eight participating countries with two matches to be played alongside the ICC Intercontinental Cup tournament schedule. The 50-Over matches between the six Associate teams currently with One-Day International status will be classed as ODIs. The first round fixtures for these matches are listed below.
Dates for 50-over matches
28 and 29 Jun – Scotland v Netherlands, Aberdeen
4 and 5 Jul – Ireland v Namibia, Stormont
25 and 26 Jul – Kenya v UAE, venue to be confirmed by host board
7 and 9 Aug – Canada v Afghanistan, Toronto SCCC
Dates for the second round of matches will be released in due course.
The fixtures and windows for each round of the ICC Intercontinental Cup 2011-13 are as follows:
| Round/Window | Home | Away |
| Round 1 (Jun/Jul 2011) | Ireland | Namibia |
| Scotland | Netherlands | |
| Kenya | UAE | |
| Canada | Afghanistan | |
| Round 2 (Sep/Oct 2011) | Ireland | Canada |
| Namibia | Scotland | |
| Netherlands | Kenya | |
| Afghanistan | UAE | |
| Round 3 (Mar/Apr 2012) | Afghanistan | Netherlands |
| UAE | Scotland | |
| Kenya | Ireland | |
| Namibia | Canada | |
| Round 4 (Jun/Jul 2012) | Ireland | Afghanistan |
| Kenya | Namibia | |
| Scotland | Canada | |
| Netherlands | UAE | |
| Round 5 (Mar/Apr 2013) | Kenya | Canada |
| Namibia | Netherlands | |
| UAE | Ireland | |
| Afghanistan | Scotland | |
| Round 6 (Jul/Aug 2013) | Canada | UAE |
| Scotland | Kenya | |
| Netherlands | Ireland | |
| Round 7 (Sep/Oct 2013) | Namibia | Scotland |
| Afghanistan | Kenya | |
| Canada | Netherlands | |
| UAE |
About ICC Intercontinental Cup
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.
Go to www.icc-cricket.com to find out more.