The ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Challenge League is a

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

competition contested in the List A format, and the bottom level of the three-league

Cricket World Cup qualification Cricket World Cup qualification is the process national cricket teams go through to qualify for the Cricket World Cup. The Cricket World Cup is a global event, and qualification is used to reduce the large field of participants from about 100 to 1 ...

system, which was introduced in 2019. Twelve teams participate in two groups, where the top team of each group advances to the World Cup Qualifier Play-off, which is a pathway to qualification for the next Cricket World Cup. The Challenge League replaced Divisions

Three 3 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 3, three, or III may also refer to: * AD 3, the third year of the AD era * 3 BC, the third year before the AD era * March, the third month Books * '' Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 1901 ...

Four 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

and

Five 5 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 5, five or number 5 may also refer to: * AD 5, the fifth year of the AD era * 5 BC, the fifth year before the AD era Literature * ''5'' (visual novel), a 2008 visual novel by Ram * ''5'' (comics), an awa ...

from the

World Cricket League The ICC World Cricket League (WCL) was a series of international one-day cricket tournaments for national teams without Test status (i.e., teams of Associate status) administered by the International Cricket Council. All Associate Members of ...

in determining World Cup qualification. The first edition was in 2019–2022.

Competition format

Competition

The Cricket World Cup is held once every four years and the Challenge League forms part of the qualification process for each edition. Twelve teams are divided into two groups of six and each group plays a triple round robin. The top

ranked A ranking is a relationship between a set of items such that, for any two items, the first is either "ranked higher than", "ranked lower than" or "ranked equal to" the second. In mathematics, this is known as a weak order or total preorder of ...

team of each group advances to the World Cup Qualifier Play-off. For a Challenge League team to qualify for the World Cup, they must, in succession, top their Challenge League group, achieve a top-two finish in the World Cup Qualifier Play-off and achieve a top-two finish in the World Cup Qualifier.

Promotion and relegation

A system of

promotion and relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues ...

exists between the Challenge League and

ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 The ICC Men's Cricket World Cup League 2 is an international cricket competition contested in the One Day International format and the second level of the three-league Cricket World Cup qualification system which was introduced in 2019. Seven t ...

. In the World Cup Qualifier Play-off, the bottom two teams from League 2 and the two champions of the Challenge League could change leagues depending on their results. Of the four teams, the two teams ranked higher will play in the next League 2, while the two teams ranked lower will play in the next Challenge League. The bottom four teams from the Challenge League are also at risk of dropping out of the 32-team qualification system entirely. They play in the World Cup Challenge Play-off with four other teams from outside the system. Of the eight participants, only the top four teams will play in the next Challenge League.

Competition format

Competition

Promotion and relegation

Editions

References

External links