World Cricket League
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World Cricket League
Official logo
Administrator(s)	International Cricket Council
Cricket format	One Day International[1] & List A[2]
First tournament	2007
Tournament format(s)	League system
Total participants	87 nations
Current champion	Kenya

The ICC World Cricket League is a series of international one-day cricket tournaments for national teams without Test status, administered by the International Cricket Council. All Associate and Affiliate members of the ICC are eligible to compete in the league system, which features a promotion and relegation structure between divisions. Teams were allocated to their respective divisions based on their performance in the qualification tournaments for the 2007 World Cup, the six initial teams in Division One being the teams that qualified for the 2007 World Cup. The series will complete its first cycle in 2007. The second cycle begins in 2008 and acts as qualification for the 2011 Cricket World Cup. It will contain two extra divisions being added to the Global World Cricket League.

Structure

The current league structure is organised with the following divisions.^[3] The regional tournaments are administered by the five Development Regions of the International Cricket Council: Africa, Americas, Asia, East Asia-Pacific, and Europe.

Summary

The above diagram shows the chronological order and structure of the divisions within the World Cricket League. From left to right the chronology of the divisions is indicated; from top to bottom the hierarchy within the competition. The arrows indicate the number of teams promoted and relegated between leagues

Also see

Details

Regional Tournaments

Associate nations' one-day rankings

In late 2005, the International Cricket Council ranked the top non-Test nations from 11-30 to complement the Test nations' rankings in the ICC ODI Championship. The ICC used the results from the 2005 ICC Trophy and WCQS Division 2 repechage competition (i.e. the primary qualification mechanisms for the 2007 Cricket World Cup) to rank the nations.

These rankings were used to seed the initial stage of the global World Cricket League. Teams ranked 11-16 were placed into Division 1; teams 17-20 were placed into Division 2; teams 21-23 were placed into Division 3; the remaining teams were placed into the upper divisions of their respective regional qualifiers.

As of 1 April 2006 the top six associates gained one day status.

Kenya and Ireland have both qualified to appear on the main rating table, Kenya from its existing status and Ireland for its two victories in the 2007 World Cup. Scotland, Netherlands, Canada and Bermuda remain on a secondary table using the rules displayed at the following website: http://icc-cricket.yahoo.com/rankings/associate-team-rankings.html

When the lower Global Division tournaments are played the rankings from 17th and lower are expected to change significantly.

Rankings as at completion of 2008 Global Division Five

Rank	Nation	Regional Rank
10 ‡	Ireland	Europe No.1 Associate/Affiliate member
12	Kenya	Africa No. 1 Associate/Affiliate member
13	Scotland	Europe 2
14	Netherlands	Europe 3
15	Canada	Americas No.1 Associate/Affiliate member
16	Bermuda	Americas 2
17	United Arab Emirates	Asia No.1 Associate/Affiliate member
18	Oman	Asia 2
19	Namibia	Africa 2
20	Denmark	Europe 4
21	Uganda	Africa 3
22	Argentina	Americas 3
23	Papua New Guinea	East Asia - Pacific No.1 Associate/Affiliate member
24	Cayman Islands	Americas 4
25	Hong Kong	Asia 3
26	Tanzania	Africa 4
27	Italy	Europe 5
28	Fiji	EAP 2
29	Afghanistan	Asia 4
30	Jersey	Europe 6
31	Nepal	Asia 5
32	United States+	Americas 5
33	Singapore	Asia 6
34	Botswana	Africa 5
35	Germany	Europe 7
36	Mozambique	Africa 6
37	Norway	Europe 8
38	Japan	EAP 3
39	Bahamas	Americas 6
40	Vanuatu	EAP 4

Notes:

‡ Test nation Zimbabwe is currently ranked eleventh, one place below Ireland, due to Ireland's performance at the 2007 ICC World Cup

+ USA demoted from WCL Div 2 to Div 5 (as current bottom Global Division) in March 2007 following ICC Board suspension / de-recognition of USA National Board

Results of global tournaments

Details	Host Nation(s)	Final Venue	Final
			Winner	Result	Runner-up
2007 Division One	Kenya	Nairobi Gymkhana Club, Nairobi	Kenya 158/2 (37.5 overs)	Kenya won by 8 wickets Scorecard	Scotland 155 all out (47 overs)
2007 Division Three	Australia	Gardens Oval, Darwin	Uganda 241/8 (50 overs)	Uganda won by 91 runs scorecard	Argentina 150 all out (46.3 overs)
2007 Division Two	Namibia	Wanderers Cricket Ground, Windhoek	United Arab Emirates 347/8 (50 overs)	United Arab Emirates won by 67 runs scorecard	Oman 280 all out (43.2 overs)
2008 Division Five	Jersey	Grainville, St Saviour	Afghanistan 81/8 (37.4 overs)	Afghanistan won by 2 wickets Scorecard	Jersey 80 all out (39.5 overs)
2008 Division Four	Tanzania
2009 Division Three	Argentina
2009 WC Qualifier	To be confirmed

References and notes

1. ^ Division One [1]
2. ^ Division Two and 2009 ICC World Cup Qualifier
3. ^ Opportunities for Europe as WCL expands, by Rod Lyall, published by CricketEurope, on 10 September 2006
4. ^ Withdrawn from the World Cricket League division 3 ... and relegated from that division due to suspension of the membership of the United States of America Cricket Association (USACA) [2]
5. ^ World Cup dream for twelve nations cricinfo.com 1 May 2008
6. ^ USA return to the fold cricinfo.com 18 May 2008
7. ^ ACA Newsflash April 2008 www.africacricket.org
8. ^ ACA Newsflash Aug 08www.africacricket.org

External links

• ICC World Cricket League is a vital part of cricket's development, says Sonn - ICC website article