Zimbabwe to host qualifiers of 2023 ODI World Cup to be held in India

Dubai: Zimbabwe will host the qualifiers of the 2023 ODI World Cup between 18 June and 9 July, according to a revised scheduled announced by the ICC due to the postponements caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. India, the hosts of the rescheduled 2023 ODI World Cup, along with seven other top Super League teams, will qualify directly for the tournament to be held in October-November. The bottom five teams from the Super League will compete in the 2023 World Cup qualifier, joining the best three teams from League 2. “When we rescheduled the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 to October and November 2023 it enabled us to extend the window for qualification events to take place and thereby ensure we maximise the opportunity for qualification to be decided on the field of play,” ICC Head of Events, Chris Tetley said in a statement. “We have worked very closely with Members and stakeholders to reschedule 96 ODIs and 60 List-A matches and will continue to maintain the safety of participants in our events as our highest priority,” he added. The ICC also announced the schedule of the World League 2 and the Challenge League. According to the schedule, the World Cup League 2 ODIs will begin on March 19 next year with Oman playing host to USA and Nepal in a sixth series of six ODIs. “There will be 96 ODIs played across the 14 series that are scheduled to be played in 2021 and 2022 respectively and the remaining two in early 2023,” the ICC said. The Cricket World Cup Challenge League A will be held between 15-28 August next year with Canada hosting Denmark, Malaysia, Qatar, Singapore, and Vanuatu across a total of 15 matches. The Cricket World Cup Challenge League B is scheduled from September 1 to 14 next year with Jersey hosting Bermuda, Hong Kong, Italy, Kenya and Uganda competing in 15 matches. “The final Challenge League B event has been scheduled for February 2022 and A for September 2022, with 60 List-A matches due to be played,” the governing body said. These two leagues will run simultaneously with the World Cup Super League. Explaining the qualification process further, the ICC said: “After the 21 tri-series in League 2 have been completed the top three teams will confirm their place in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2023. “The bottom four teams will drop into the Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier Play-Off 2023 which is a repechage event to the Global Qualifier and will be joined by the winner of Challenge League A and B. “The top two teams from the Play-Off which has also been rescheduled to 2023 will keep their hopes alive of participating in India 2023, by qualifying for the Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2023.”