ICC Announce World T20 Qualifying Tournament Structure

ICC Announce World T20 Qualifying Tournament Structure

Afghanistan will be one of the star attractions at the ICC World T20 Qualifying event.

©REUTERS/Faisal Mahmood. Picture Supplied by Action Images

The ICC has announced the dates and format of the qualifying tournament for the 2012 World Twenty 20, which will be held in Sri Lanka in September. The 16-team event will begin in the UAE on 13^th March, and encompass five different grounds in three different emirates, before coming to its conclusion in a tournament final on 24^th March in Dubai.

The 16 team field, which is made up of Associate and Affiliate members of the ICC, will be split into two groups of eight with the top three from each group having a chance of progressing to the main event by competing in a series of finals.

The exact nature of these finals is as follows. The winners of the two groups will first play in a ‘First Qualifying Final’, with the winner of that match qualifying for the main event. The loser of that match will then play the winner of a series of cross-over matches between the second and third placed teams in each group in the ‘Second Qualifying Final’, with the winner of this match becoming the second side to join the main event.

The tournament final itself – which will decide which group of seeded teams the winners will join in the main event – finally rounds off the tournament on 24^th March 2012.

If all of this seems very complicated, then spare a thought for the teams themselves, for some of whom this event in the UAE marks the last step in a long road to qualification; with the likes of Oman, Nepal and Hong Kong only confirming their presence earlier this month following a top four finish in the Asian Cricket Council Twenty 20 tournament.

Indeed this rigorous qualification pathway, which gives 90 cricket-playing nations the chance of playing with the likes of India and Australia on the world stage, is something that the ICC's Global Development Manager Tim Anderson, paid tribute to in his assessment of the event.

He said, “This is one of the most important and prestigious events on the Pepsi ICC Development Programme's calendar in which 16 leading Associate and Affiliate Members will vie for the two available places in the ICC World Twenty20 2012 Sri Lanka. This final qualifier is the last step of a pathway that comprised 13 ICC regional tournaments during 2010 and 2011 and saw the involvement of over 90 ICC Associate and Affiliate members. The 72-match format has been designed to give the best sides every chance of making the final."

The teams competing in the event are as follows:

Group A: Afghanistan, Netherlands, Canada, Papua New Guinea, Hong Kong, Bermuda, Denmark, Nepal

Group B: Ireland, Kenya, Scotland, Namibia, Uganda, Oman, Italy, USA

© Cricket World 2011