Kuwait to host Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 8

The ICC Development Committee this week confirmed that the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 8 will take place in Kuwait.

Eight teams will contest the event, scheduled to take place in late 2010, which will see the sides split into two groups of four with the winners of the two semi-finals gaining promotion to Division 7. The tournament is part of the qualification pathway to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015.

In addition to Suriname and Gibraltar, the two relegated sides from the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 7, which was contested in May 2009 in Guernsey, all regions will be represented by one additional team apart from Asia, who have been allocated two places based on the strength of its team?s performances in recent Pepsi ICC World Cricket League events.

The ICC East Asia-Pacific region has already completed its qualifying tournament for the event ? the ICC EAP Trophy - with Vanuatu being its top ranked team outside of the World Cricket League rankings and it will be the region?s representative in Kuwait.

There are only two Asian countries participating in the ACC Trophy Elite who are not already embedded into the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League structure, Kuwait and Bhutan, and they will be Asia?s representatives at the event.

The other qualifying sides will be confirmed in due course depending on the results of the ICC Africa Division 2, the ICC Americas Division 2 and the ICC European Division 2 tournaments all of which will be held in the first half of 2010.

Kuwait currently has four turf grounds and has successfully hosted a number of ACC tournaments, including the ACC U19 Trophy Elite earlier this year.