Venues and teams approved for Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Divisions 6 and 7
The ICC Development Committee has approved in principle that the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 7 (WCL Div. 7) tournament will be held in May/June 2009 in Guernsey and that the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 6 (WCL Div. 6) tournament will be held in September in Singapore.
The decisions were made as the committee gathered in Spain for one of its biannual meetings, which concluded on Sunday, and the choice of venues are now subject to appropriate finalisation of arrangements.
In arriving at the determination of which teams would participate in each tournament, the Development Committee considered the relative strength of each region given the results of the WCL Div. 5 event in Jersey earlier this year as well as the most recent regional results and the desire to recognise all five regions of the Pepsi ICC Development Programme.
The Development Committee allocated the 10 positions across the two divisions by region assigning three teams from Asia (two for WCL Div. 6 and one for WCL Div. 7), three teams from Europe (one for WCL Div. 6 and two for WCL Div. 7), two teams from Africa (one for each division), one team from the Americas (for WCL Div. 7) and one team from East Asia-Pacific (also for WCL Div. 7).
In line with current ICC regional rankings, the make-up of the two tournaments will be as follows:
Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 7, May 2009 (Guernsey): Guernsey, Nigeria, Japan, Suriname, Bahrain and Gibraltar
Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 6, September 2009 (Singapore): Singapore, Botswana, Norway, Malaysia and top two teams qualifying from WCL Div. 7
Further information will be released on both tournaments in due course.
About the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League:
The Pepsi ICC World Cricket League was created to provide regular global one-day cricket opportunities to those countries outside the ICC’s Full Members.
The inaugural Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 1 event took place in Nairobi in January 2007, part of a multi-tiered event which will provide competitive cricket for the sport’s developing teams.
Bermuda, Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands and Scotland joined the host nation Kenya in this event in which all the matches had official ODI status. It proved to be a resounding success, with some outstanding cricket played, and it brought considerable media attention to the leading Associate Member countries.
As well as being timed to provide the vital preparation ahead of the ICC Cricket World Cup West Indies 2007, the two leading sides from the event which reached the final, Kenya and Scotland, gained qualification for the ICC World Twenty20 2007.
Kenya defeated Scotland in the final by eight wickets, avenging an earlier defeat in the group stage to the same opposition.
In the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division Three in Darwin, Australia, in mid-2007, Uganda secured the title when it defeated Argentina by 91 runs.
The top four teams from the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 2, who were Oman, UAE, Namibia and Denmark, will go forward to the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier, which will be held in South Africa during April 2009.
Afghanistan and host Jersey were the top two teams at the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 5 in May 2008. They were promoted to the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 4 in October in Tanzania.
At that event, Afghanistan again performed outstandingly to defeat Hong Kong in the final, although both sides secured promotion to the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 3, which will take place in Buenos Aires from 24-31 January 2009.
The Pepsi ICC World Cricket League is about more than just the top six Associate teams. It is a multi-division structure designed to afford teams of various standards the opportunity to play regular one-day cricket against similarly ranked opponents regardless of where in the world they are located.
It also ensures that the qualifying pathway for the ICC Cricket World Cup is open to the majority of the 94 ICC Associate and Affiliate members.
This new structure of one-day cricket sits on top of the regional qualifying events to create a pyramid in which all teams have an opportunity to develop and an incentive to improve.
Promotion and relegation are possible between divisions as each team seeks to move up the world cricket ratings.
For more information on the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League, please go to www.pepsiiccworldcricketleague.com.