No ODI status for some fixtures in the World Cup qualifiers

In a recent development, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has confirmed that it won’t sanction official ODI status for some of the matches to be held during the World Cup qualifiers in Zimbabwe later this year. The decision on the ODI status was made by the ICC executives in Dubai and follows the precedent set at the 2007 World Cup. It states that there can be a maximum of 16 ODI nations in any given World Cup cycle.

The main victim of such an outcome is the Netherlands, whose matches in Zimbabwe in March will gain no official recognition even though they are already guaranteed a return to official ODI status immediately after the conclusion of the qualifying tournament.

The intention is to protect elite cricketing standards, as well as respect the sanctity of ODI statistics. For the first time in World Cup history, four Test-playing nations will be pitted against the Associates which give the tournament arguably its most high-profile appeal ever.

Roadmap of the World Cup qualifiers

A total of ten teams will contest the qualifiers in Zimbabwe, slated to begin on March 4. Only two amongst the 10 will be going through to join the top eight-ranked nations in a trimmed-down World Cup in England which will run from May 30 to July 15, 2019.

West Indies, two time WC winners face a nervy qualifying tournament after missing out on the top-eight ODI rankings at the cut-off date of September 30 last year. Afghanistan, Ireland and Zimbabwe also suffered the same fate.

These four Test-playing nations will be joined by Hong Kong, Netherlands, Scotland and Papua New Guinea, who finished in the top four of the ICC World Cricket League Championship. The remaining two spots for the Qualifiers will be decided in Namibia from February 8-15 when Canada, Kenya, Namibia, Nepal, Oman and the United Arab Emirates compete in the ICC World Cricket League Division 2.