ICC announces squads for two fixtures of sixth round of Pepsi ICC WCL Championship
Netherlands-Ireland and Scotland-Kenya matches to be streamed live atwww.icc-cricket.com
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has today announced the squads for the first two fixtures of the sixth round of the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League (WCL) Championship and the ICC Intercontinental Cup 2011-2013.
Competition leader Ireland will lock horns with second-placed Netherlands in a crucial WCL Championship encounter on 7 and 9 July at VRA, Amsterdam, a match-up that will see Ireland become the first side from the tournament to qualify for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 if it wins both ODIs.
Leading the competition after five rounds, Ireland leads Netherlands by three points, and a 2-0 victory will see the side reach an unassailable tally of 21 points and qualify for the ICC’s flagship ODI event regardless of the remaining results of the competition.
The two sides will also face off in the four-day first-class Intercontinental Cup fixture from 1 July at Deventer.
Meanwhile, third-placed Scotland will host fifth-placed Kenya at Mannofield, Aberdeen, for two WCL Championship ODIs on30 June and 2 July. A two-match win for Scotland will place the side above Netherlands in the critical second position if Netherlands loses both encounters with Ireland.
The teams will also meet in an Intercontinental Cup fixture from 7 to 10 July.
The top two sides from the WCL Championship will qualify automatically for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015.
The final two positions in the ICC’s flagship ODI event will then be determined at the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier, which will be staged in New Zealand in 2014.
The competition remains open for that crucial second position, with only four points separating second-placed Netherlands (14) from sixth-placed UAE (10).
Former champion Ireland leads the ICC Intercontinental Cup with 76 points from five matches, 12 points ahead of Afghanistan (64).
The ICC is live streaming 16 matches from the last three rounds of the WCL Championship, including four games of the sixth round – both ODIs between Scotland and Kenya, and both ODIs between Netherlands and Ireland. The four games will be streamed live at www.icc-cricket.com, and viewers will be able to watch the matches free of charge.
In the Intercontinental Cup, former champion Ireland leads with 76 points from five matches, 12 points ahead of Afghanistan (64).
WCL Championship points table (after the fifth round):
| Teams | P | W | L | Tie | N/R | Points | NRR |
| Ireland | 10 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 17 | 1.040 |
| Netherlands | 10 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 0.615 |
| Scotland | 10 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 11 | -0.018 |
| Afghanistan | 10 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 11 | -0.313 |
| Kenya | 10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0.006 |
| UAE | 10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 10 | -0.249 |
| Namibia | 10 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 4 | -0.398 |
| Canada | 10 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 3 | -0.710 |
Intercontinental Cup points table (after the fifth round):
| Teams | Mat | Won | Lost | Tied | Draw | Aban | Pts |
| Ireland | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 76 |
| Afghanistan | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 64 |
| Namibia | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 57 |
| Scotland | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 46 |
| Kenya | 5 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 42 |
| Netherlands | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 36 |
| United Arab Emirates | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 33 |
| Canada | 5 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 |
ICC Pepsi WCL Championship
Scotland (from)– Kyle Coetzer (captain), Richard Berrington, Gordon Drummond, Majid Haq, Iain Wardlaw, Gordon Goudie, Preston Mommsen, Calum MacLeod, Frederick Coleman, Robert Taylor, Moneeb Iqbal, Neil Carter, David Murphy and Matthew Machan
Kenya (from) - Collins Obuya (captain), Alex Obanda, Tanmay Mishra, Rakep Patel, Irfan Karim, Duncan Allan, Morris Ouma, Nehemiah Odhiambo, James Ngoche, Hiren Varaiya, Elijah Otieno, Nelson Odhiambo, Shem Obado and Ragheb Aga
Netherlands (from)– Peter Borren (captain), Wesley Barresi, Mudassar Bukhari, Daan van Bunge, Tom Cooper, Daniel Doram, Ahsan Malik, Paul Van Meekeren, Stephen Myburgh, Michael Rippon, Edgar Schiferli, Pieter Seelaar, Michael Swart, Eric Szwarczynski
**Ireland (from) –**William Porterfield (captain), Alexander Cusack, David Johnston, John Mooney, Max Sorensen, Edmund Joyce, Niall
O'Brien, Gary Wilson, Paul Stirling, Timothy Murtagh, George Dockrell, Andrew White and James Shannon
ICC Intercontinental Cup
Scotland (from)– Preston Mommsen (captain), Craig Wallace, Alisdair Evans, Richard Berrington, Calvin Burnett, Majid Haq, Johan Nel, Gordon Goudie, Calum MacLeod, Ewan Chalmers, Frederick Coleman, Matthew Cross, Moneeb Iqbal and Joshua Davey
Kenya (from) - Collins Obuya (captain), Alex Obanda, Tanmay Mishra, Rakep Patel, Irfan Karim, Duncan Allan, Morris Ouma, Nehemiah Odhiambo, James Ngoche, Hiren Varaiya, Elijah Otieno, Nelson Odhiambo, Shem Obado and Ragheb Aga
Netherlands (from)– Peter Borren (captain), Wesley Barresi, Daan van Bunge, Tom Cooper, Daniel Doram, James Gruijters, Tim Gruijters, QuirijnGunning, Mahesh Hans, Sebastiaan Braat, Ahsan Malik, Ahsan Malik, Lesley Stokkers, Pieter Seelaar, Eric Szwarczynski
**Ireland (from) -**Kevin O'Brien, (captain), Alexander Cusack, David Johnston, John Mooney, Max Sorensen, George Dockrell, Andrew White, James Shannon, Stuart Thompson, John Anderson, Andrew Balbirnie, Stuart Poynter and Phillip Eaglestone
The fixtures are as follows:
Scotland v Kenya*
30 June – WCL Championship, 1st ODI, Mannofield, Aberdeen (Umpires: Ian Ramage and Gregory Brathwaite; Match referee: David Jukes)
2 July – WCL Championship, 2nd ODI, Mannofield, Aberdeen (Umpires: Ian Ramage and Gregory Brathwaite; Match referee: David Jukes)
7-10 July - ICC Intercontinental Cup, Mannofield, Aberdeen (Umpires: Ian Ramage and Gregory Brathwaite; Match referee: David Jukes)
Netherlands v Ireland*
1-4 July - ICC Intercontinental Cup, Deventer (Umpires: Mark Hawthorne and Chris Gaffaney; Match referee: David Dukes)
7 July – WCL Championship, 1st ODI, VRA, Amsterdam (Umpires: Mark Hawthorne and Chris Gaffaney; Match referee: David Dukes)
9 July - WCL Championship, 2nd ODI, VRA, Amsterdam (Umpires: Mark Hawthorne and Chris Gaffaney; Match referee: David Dukes)
Canada v UAE**
1-4 August - ICC Intercontinental Cup, Maple Leaf, Toronto
6 August – WCL Championship, 1st 50-over match, Maple Leaf, Toronto
8 August – WCL Championship, 2nd 50-over match, Maple Leaf, Toronto
Namibia v Afghanistan**
4-7 August - ICC Intercontinental Cup, Wanderers, Windhoek
9 August – WCL Championship, 1st 50-over match, Wanderers, Windhoek
11 August – WCL Championship, 2nd 50-over match, Wanderers, Windhoek
* Matches between Scotland- Kenya and Netherlands-Ireland will be streamed live on the ICC website www.icc-cricket.com
**Matches between Canada-UAE and Namibia-Afghanistan will not be classified as ODIs as Namibia and the UAE do not have ODI status. The squads and officials for these fixtures will be announced in due course.
An up-to-date points table plus all the ICC Intercontinental Cup 2011-2013 results in the competition will be availablehere.
The points table of the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Championship can be found by clickinghere.
The WCL Championship
The WCL Championship features the top eight Associate and Affiliate teams - Afghanistan, Canada, Ireland, Kenya, Namibia, Netherlands, Scotland and the UAE - and is a seven-round competition that provides direct qualification opportunities to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, to be held in Australia and New Zealand.
The top two teams from the WCL Championship will automatically join the ICC’s 10 Full Members at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, while the bottom six teams will receive a second opportunity to advance to the ICC’s flagship global event by competing in the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier in early 2014. This 10-team event will determine the final two qualifiers for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015.
ICC Intercontinental Cup
The ICC Intercontinental Cup is the ICC’s premier first-class tournament, and is an integral part of the Associate Members’ cricket schedule.
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, and Namibia in 2007-08 event. In 2009-10, Afghanistan won the competition and Scotland finished second on the points table.
To read more about the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Championship, please click here.
To read more about the ICC Intercontinental Cup, please click here.