Five days ago we reported on the CWC League 2 draft matchups after they were seemingly posted by mistake on Cricket Namibia’s Facebook page. The ICC confirmed the accuracy of this draft schedule on Tuesday when they released the dates and host venues for Season 1 of the new all-ODI competition which gets underway later this year.
The first ball will be bowled August 14 in Aberdeen, Scotland.
Nepal will host its historic first home ODI at Tribhuvan University (TU) Ground, Kirtipur in the nation’s capital 5-12 February 2020. Up until today, no announcement had been made about TU Ground’s status, nor is there any mention of this in the release, but it is assumed the recent ICC inspection has deemed the facility – which has seen crowds approaching 20,000 spectators for Nepal internationals and domestic T20 leagues – fit to host ODIs and T20Is.
Other countries hosting inaugural home ODIs will be USA (Raleigh, NC) and Oman (Al Amerat).
Each nation will host a double round robin tri-series in each of the three Seasons. They will also each particulate in two away series on each third, too.
RECAP:
Namibia, Oman, USA and (after a miraculous set of results on the last day) PNG secured their spots in the new CWC League 2 with top four finishes at the recently concluded, and final, ICC World Cricket League Division Two.
They joined Scotland, UAE and Nepal who qualified for League 2 by virtue of their final positions in the World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe last year.
The top three teams will take their places in the global qualifier for the 2023 World Cup.
Outside the crucial WCL2 top 4 were Canada and Hong Kong. They now slot into CWC Challenge Leagues A and B after finishing 5th and 6th, respectively.
Going on a previously retracted 2018 ICC release – which has since been confirmed by ICC to be correct, the two Challenge League groups stack up as follows – with current 50-over rankings per their most recent event finishes in brackets:
| Group A | Group B |
| Canada (19) | Hong Kong (20) |
| Singapore (21) | Kenya (22) |
| Denmark (23) | Uganda (24) |
| Malaysia (25) | Jersey (26) |
| Vanuatu (27) | Bermuda (28) |
| Qatar (29) | Italy (30) |
Each team will play 15 List A matches over three “WCL-style” events over a similar 2019-21 period as CWC League 2.
The league will consist of three World Cricket League-style single round-robin events held over a two year period beginning this August. Each team will play a total of 15 List A matches over the course of the league.
Each winner of the two Challenge League groups will join the bottom four from the CWC League in a play-off for the final two spots in the Cricket World Cup Qualifier in 2022.
The Netherlands will begin their campaign in the 13-team CWC Super League when it gets underway in July 2020.
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So with Zim out of World super league of 13 teams, will Scotland be drafted in? It is so overdue and with an excellent squad at present, it would really add the competition. With a little luck on their side they would have played this world cup...after one bad decision after another for associates, hope ICC takes one good decision and includes Scotland.