The 4-year ODI cycle of 2019-2023 has begun, with the first ODI in the long journey to the 2023 ICC World Cup having been played between Oman and Papua New Guinea at Aberdeen, Scotland in August 2019. The big guns are yet to open their accounts in the 2019-2023 ODI cycle. Here is everything you should know about the ODI cycle of 2019-23.
Read More : World order after CWC 2019: The ICC Test Championship
The path to the 2023 ICC World Cup is contested between 32 countries through 3 tiers.
- ICC Cricket World Cup Super League
- ICC Cricket World Cup League 2
- ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League
- ICC Cricket World Cup Super League (2020-2022)
Super League is purely an organized version of the Bilateral Series, which the major countries have taken part in for a number of years. The league will add structure and context to these fixtures.
| Teams | 13 (12 Full Members + Netherlands) |
| League Format | 52 Bilateral Series |
| No. of Matches per Series | 3 |
| No. of Series per Team | 8 (4 – Home & 4 – Away) |
| Status | ODI status for all 156 matches |
The league will commence in July 2020 and end in March 2022, giving the countries a period of 1 year to prepare for the 2023 World Cup. During this period, teams will organize ODI tours at their will outside of the Super League.
Unlike the ICC Test Championship, the point system used in the Super League (as well as the League 02 and Challenge Leagues) is a conventional points system, since all teams will play the same number of matches throughout the tournament. (10 pts- Win, 5 pts – Tie/No Result/Abandonment, 0 pts – Loss)
Participants
12 full members automatically qualified to play in the inaugural edition of the ICC CWC Super League and the 13th spot was awarded to Netherlands who won the ICC World Cricket League Championship 2015-17.
| Afghanistan | Australia | Bangladesh | England |
| India | Ireland | New Zealand | Pakistan |
| South Africa | Sri Lanka | West Indies | Zimbabwe |
| Netherlands | |||
Fixtures
Each team will play against 8 teams out of the 12 available opponents. The members chose their opponents by mutual agreement.
Sri Lanka’s Fixtures
- South Africa (H) – June 2020 (Postponed)
- India (H) – June 2020 (Postponed)
- Zimbabwe (H) – October 2020
- Bangladesh (A) – December 2020
- New Zealand (A) – February 2021
- West Indies (A) – February 2021
- England (A) – June 2021
- Afghanistan (H) – July 2021
*The dates of the above fixtures are subject to change.
(Apart from these Super League fixtures, Sri Lanka is scheduled to play the Bilateral ODI Series against Australia, Pakistan, India and New Zealand, an ODI Tri-Series with South Africa and Ireland, as well as the 2022 Asia Cup between March 2022 and January 2023.)
Qualification for 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup
The top 7 teams out of 13 participants of the Super League as well as the hosts (India) will qualify for the 2023 World Cup. The other 5 countries will have to contest in the 2022 ICC World Cup Qualifier for the 2 remaining spots in 2023 ICC World Cup.
Read Also : Sri Lanka to face PNG, Ireland & Oman in 2020 ICC T20 World Cup
- ICC Cricket World Cup League 02 (2019-2022)
The 7 other countries who have ODI status will battle it out in a modified version of the ICC World Cricket League Championship, now called the ICC Cricket World Cup League 02. This tournament started in August 2019 and will run until January 2022.
| Teams | 7 (13th-20th) |
| League Format | 21 Tri-Series |
| No. of Matches per Series | 6 |
| No. of Matches per Team in a Series | 4 |
| No. of Series per Team | 9 (3 – Home & 6 – Away) |
| Status | ODI status for all 126 matches |
Participants
| Nepal | Scotland | United Arab Emirates | ||
| Namibia | Oman | Papua New Guinea | ||
| USA |
Qualification for 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup
No team in the ICC CWC League 02 can directly qualify for the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup. The top 3 teams of the tournament will go through to the 2022 ICC World Cup Qualifier, while the other 4 teams will have to compete in the 2022 ICC CWC Qualifier Playoff Tournament to earn a spot in the 2022 ICC World Cup Qualifier.
Watch : Cricketers urge public to stay at home
- ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League
The next best ODI teams in the world (ranked 21st – 32nd) will compete in the ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League, formed as 2 groups of 6 teams. This tournament started in September 2019 and will run until October 2021.
This tournament is a replacement for the previously held World Cricket League Tournaments.
| Teams | 12 (21st-32nd) |
| League Format | 3 six-team tournaments each for Group A & Group B |
| No. of Matches per Series | 15 |
| No. of Matches per Team in a Series | 5 |
| No. of Series per Team | 3 |
| Status | List-A status for all 90 matches |
Participants
| Group A | Group B | |
| Canada | Hong Kong | |
| Singapore | Kenya | |
| Denmark | Uganda | |
| Malaysia | Jersey | |
| Vanuatu | Bermuda | |
| Qatar | Italy |
Qualification for 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup
Just as it is with the ICC CWC League 02, no team in the ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League can directly qualify for the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup. However, the best team from each group will qualify for a spot in the 2022 ICC CWC Qualifier Playoff.
Promotion & Relegation between Leagues
Apart from the qualification process for the 2023 ICC World Cup, there will be a Promotion and Relegation procedure through the leagues at the end of the 2019-2023 cycle. This will decide which countries would play in which leagues in the next ODI cycle from 2023-2027.
Between the 13th-ranked team from CWC Super League and the table-topper of the CWC League 02, the side that finishes higher in the ICC CWC Qualifier will feature in the next edition of the CWC Super League. The side that finishes the lower of the two will play in the CWC League 02 for the next edition.
Between the 6th and 7th-ranked teams from CWC League 02 and the table-toppers from the CWC Challenge Leagues A and B, the two sides that finish higher in the ICC CWC Qualifier playoff will feature in the next edition of the CWC League 02. The bottom two sides from this group will play in the CWC Challenge Leagues A and B for the next edition.
The 4 next best teams after these 32 countries will compete along with the bottom two sides from Challenge League A and Challenge League B in an eight-team ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Challenge Play-Off (Date TBC). The top four sides from the CWC Challenge Playoff will be equally divided into the two CWC Challenge Leagues for the next edition, while the bottom four sides will drop out of the top 32.
>>Click Here For More Cricket News<<
