Images during the 2024 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Challenge League Play-Off Super Six Stage match between Tanzania and Italy held at Bayuemas Oval, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 01 March 2024 Photo by: Peter Lim / International Cricket Council RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE.
The ICC has revealed the distribution of teams across two groups for the 2024-2026 running of the Cricket World Cup Challenge League. The second running of the tournament features two groups of 6 teams, in the same format as the 2019-22 cycle, with each team playing 15 List A matches over three, annual, single-venue round-robin tournaments.
There’s been significant turnover in the teams competing in the first and second cycles of the tournament. At the top-end, Canada secured promotion to Cricket World Cup League 2, with Papua New Guinea relegated to take their place in the Challenge League.
More changes to the roster came at the recently concluded Challenge League Playoff. Here, three of the teams who competed in the 2019-22 cycle failed to retain their place on the Cricket World Cup ladder: Bermuda, Malaysia, and Vanuatu. In their place, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Tanzania were promoted to the Challenge League. Italy were the only side to rebound from the Challenge League Playoff after being relegated at the end of the 2019-22 campaign.
The twelve teams are again divided into two groups of six. In Group A, Denmark, Jersey, Kenya, Kuwait, Papua New Guinea, and Qatar will battle it out over 15 matches each. Meanwhile Group B combines Bahrain, Hong Kong, Italy, Singapore, Tanzania, and Uganda.
The seeding for the tournament has not been determined by finishing position in the previous cycle, with both teams relegated from the World Cup Qualifier Playoff in Group A, and three of the four promoted teams from the Challenge League Playoff in Group B. Instead, T20I rankings appear to have been used to determine the seeding, for a 50-over tournament.
Venues and dates for each leg of the tournament have not been announced by the ICC at this stage, though it is expected that one leg of each group will take place in 2024, 2025 and 2026.
Along with the shuffling of the participating teams, there is an additional promotion place available in each group for the 2024-26 cycle. The top two teams in each group will advance to the Cricket World Cup Qualifier Playoff, with that tournament expanding to eight teams. It is not yet clear if the runners-up in each group will be eligible for promotion to ODI status for the following cycle.
You’re reading Emerging Cricket — brought to you by a passionate group of volunteers with a vision for cricket to be a truly global sport, and a mission to inspire passion to grow the game.
Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, please subscribe for regular updates, and follow EC on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube.
Don’t know where to start? Check out our features list, country profiles, and subscribe to our podcast. Support us from US$2 a month — and get exclusive benefits, by becoming an EC Patron.
New census data from ICC Europe has revealed another positive rise in infrastructure and participation…
The ICC has released the fixture schedule for next year’s Men’s T20 World Cup in…
Mentioning a new captain two-thirds of the way down a press release on your website…
A dozen or so years ago, I had an argument with Richard Cox, then CEO…
Having previously won three test matches on the bounce in their first ten, Ireland of…
Did we miss anything? Well there's a Women's tour to South Africa before Christmas, an…