The 2018 ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier was 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 ...

tournament that took place during March 2018 in Zimbabwe. It formed the final part of the

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 ...

process for the 2019 World Cup in England and Wales. The top two teams,

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

and the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...

, qualified for the World Cup, joining the hosts and the seven teams who had already qualified through their ranking in the

ICC ODI Championship The ICC Men's ODI Team Rankings (formerly known as the ICC ODI Championship) is an international One Day International (ODI) cricket rankings system of the International Cricket Council (ICC). After every ODI match, the two teams involved receiv ...

. Afghanistan won the tournament, beating the West Indies by 7 wickets in the final. Afghanistan's

Mohammad Shahzad Mohammad Shahzad Mohammadi ( ps, ; born 10 January 1988) is an Afghan cricketer. He a right-handed opening batsman who also plays as a wicketkeeper. He made his international debut for Afghanistan in August 2009. Shahzad was one of the elev ...

was named the

player of the match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

and Zimbabwe's

Sikandar Raza Sikandar Raza Butt (} ; born 24 April 1986) is a Pakistani-born Zimbabwean international cricketer, who plays all formats primarily as a batter. Born in Sialkot, Raza emigrated to Zimbabwe in 2002 along with his family. He soon became one of ...

was named the player of the tournament. The tournament was initially scheduled to take place in Bangladesh, but in May 2017 it was reported that the event would instead be hosted elsewhere as Bangladesh were close to automatic qualification, and thus would not need to participate in this tournament. Three bids were under consideration: one from Zimbabwe, one from the United Arab Emirates and a joint-bid from Ireland and Scotland, who were the winners of the previous qualifier tournament. In October 2017, the

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the world governing body of cricket. Headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, its members are 108 national associations, with 12 Full Members and 96 Associate Members. Founded in 1909 as the ' ...

(ICC) announced that Zimbabwe would host the event. In January 2018, the ICC confirmed all the fixtures and venues for the tournament. At the end of the tournament, the Netherlands (who won the

ICC World Cricket League Championship The ICC World Cricket League Championship was the top division of the World Cricket League (WCL). It formed the qualification process for the Cricket World Cup. The WCL Championship was originally known as World Cricket League Division One, and wa ...

) and the top three Associate Member teams earned One Day International (ODI) status until 2023.

Summary

Hosts Zimbabwe failed to reach the final and missed out on playing in the Cricket World Cup for the first time since 1983. As a result of their poor performance,

Zimbabwe Cricket Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC), previously known as the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) until 2004, is the governing body for the sport of cricket in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe Cricket is a full member of the International Cricket Council (ICC), and administers th ...

sacked all their coaching staff and their team captain,

Graeme Cremer Alexander Graeme Cremer (born 19 September 1986) is a former Zimbabwean cricketer who was the captain of the Zimbabwe national cricket team, between May 2016 and March 2018. He is a leg-spinner who got into the Zimbabwe side at the age of eighte ...

. Recently appointed Full Member side Ireland also missed the Cricket World Cup for the first time since 2007, and for the first time, no Associate Member qualified for the Cricket World Cup. Following the conclusion of the group stage, Afghanistan,

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at t ...

, West Indies and

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

had all progressed to the Super Sixes, with a chance to qualify for the 2019 Cricket World Cup.

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

Nepal Nepal (; ne, :ne:नेपाल, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in S ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

did not qualify for the Super Sixes, but advanced to the playoffs to determine their final rankings in positions seven to ten. Both Scotland and the United Arab Emirates kept their ODI status until 2022, after reaching the Super Sixes. Hong Kong, Nepal and Papua New Guinea competed for the final ODI status spot in the playoffs. In the first round of playoff matches, Nepal beat Papua New Guinea by 6 wickets and the Netherlands beat Hong Kong by 44 runs. Therefore, with the Netherlands already guaranteed ODI status at the end of the tournament, Nepal gained ODI status for the first time. With their defeats in the first playoff matches, Hong Kong and Papua New Guinea both lost their ODI status and were relegated to Division Two of 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 ...

. The fixture between Hong Kong and Papua New Guinea, for the ninth place playoff, was the 4,000th ODI match to be played. The West Indies became the first side to qualify for the 2019 Cricket World Cup, after they beat Scotland by five runs by the Duckworth–Lewis–Stern method in the Super Sixes. Tournament hosts Zimbabwe lost their final match in the Super Sixes to the United Arab Emirates, meaning they would need Afghanistan and Ireland's match to end as tie to allow them to progress to the Cricket World Cup. However, Afghanistan beat Ireland by five wickets in the final Super Six match, therefore joining the West Indies in the tournament final and also qualifying for the Cricket World Cup. In the final, Afghanistan's

Rashid Khan Rashid Khan Arman ( ps, ; born 20 September 1998) is an Afghan international cricketer and a former captain of the national team. In franchise leagues, he plays for Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Adelaide Strikers in Austra ...

became the fastest and youngest bowler to take 100 wickets in ODIs when he dismissed

Shai Hope Shai Diego Hope (born 10 November 1993) is a Barbadian cricketer, who plays international cricket for the West Indies cricket team. He is regarded as one of the best ODI batsmen in the contemporary world. At the age of 21, he was called into the ...

. He took 44 matches to take his 100th dismissal, breaking the previous record of 52 matches, set by

Mitchell Starc Mitchell Aaron Starc (born 30 January 1990) is an Australian international cricketer who plays for the Australian national team and New South Wales in domestic cricket. A left-arm fast bowler and a lower order left-handed batsman, Starc repres ...

of Australia.

Teams

It was decided before the

2015 Cricket World Cup The 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 11th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was jointly hosted by A ...

that the number of participating teams at the

2019 Cricket World Cup The 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 12th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was hosted between 30 May ...

would be reduced to ten. A new World Cup qualification structure was introduced in which the host nation of the World Cup and the top seven other teams in the

on 30 September 2017 would qualify directly for the World Cup, with the remaining two spots being decided by the World Cup qualifying tournament. Following recent success,

and

were promoted into the ICC ODI Championship in 2015 taking the number of teams in the ICC ODI Championship to twelve. Afghanistan and Ireland were granted Test status in 2017 making them the 11th and 12th Test-playing nations, meaning that at least two Test-playing nations would miss the World Cup for the first time. The bottom four teams in the ICC ODI Championship ranking will be joined by the top four teams from the 2015–17 ICC World Cricket League Championship and the two finalists of the 2018 ICC World Cricket League Division Two for the qualifying tournament. Therefore, at most two associate teams could qualify for the World Cup, or none if beaten by the Test playing nations.

ICC ODI Championship

The bottom four teams (9th to 12th places) in the ICC ODI Championship, as at 30 September 2017, did not receive automatic World Cup qualification and are required to play in the 2018 World Cup Qualifier. Qualification by this route was finalised after the

lost the first match of their ODI series against England in September 2017, meaning they were unable to catch any of the teams above them in the rankings by the cut-off date. Afghanistan, Ireland and

, below the West Indies in the rankings, were confirmed as having to play in the qualification tournament before this date.

WCL Championship

The top four teams from the 2015–17 ICC World Cricket League Championship qualified for the 2018 World Cup Qualifier. After the conclusion of the sixth round of fixtures in the championship, both the

and

had qualified. Following the first fixtures in round seven, they were joined by

and

. The Netherlands ended up winning the tournament, with Scotland finishing second followed by Hong Kong in third and Papua New Guinea fourth.

WCL Division Two

The top two teams from the 2018 ICC World Cricket League Division Two qualified for the 2018 World Cup Qualifier.

and the

placed first and second in the round-robin stage, thus claiming the final places in the Qualifier. The United Arab Emirates won the final of the Division Two tournament to go into Group A, with Nepal placed in Group B.

Tournament format

Initially, the teams were split into two groups of five; these groups played on a round-robin basis. Two points were awarded for a win, one point for a

no result The result in a game of cricket may be a "win" for one of the two teams playing, or a "tie". In the case of a limited overs game, the game can also end with "no result" if the game can't be finished on time (usually due to weather or bad ligh ...

and no points for a loss. The top three teams in each group went forward to a Super Six round. The results between the progressing teams were carried forward, including the corresponding points and net run rate, while the results against the teams that finished in the bottom two places in each group were discarded. Each team then played the qualifiers from the other group. The remaining four teams (that finish in the bottom two places in each group) played-off for positions 7–10. The bottom two Associate Member teams, excluding the Netherlands, were relegated to the

ICC World Cricket League Division Two ICC World Cricket League Division Two forms part of the World Cricket League (WCL) system. Like all other divisions, WCL Division Two is contested as a standalone tournament rather than as an actual league. Unlike lower divisions, however, matches ...

. The top two teams at the end of the Super Six stage earned qualification to the 2019 World Cup, and also contested the final to determine the winner of the tournament. If the final ended as a tie, then a Super Over would have been played to decide the winner. In the event of a no result, the tournament's winner would have been the side that finished highest in the Super Sixes.

Squads

The following squads were named ahead of the tournament: Prior to the tournament,

Stephan Myburgh Stephanus Johannes Myburgh (born 28 February 1984) is a Dutch-South African cricketer who has played at One Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 International (T20I) level for the Dutch national side. He is a left-handed batsman and right-arm ...

was ruled out of the Netherlands squad due to injury and was replaced by

Bas de Leede Bastiaan Franciscus Wilhelmus de Leede (born 15 November 1999) is a Dutch cricketer. His father, Tim de Leede, played in 29 One Day Internationals (ODIs) for the Netherlands. Career He made his List A debut for Royal Netherlands Cricket Board ...

. Zimbabwe initially named Ryan Burl and Tarisai Musakanda in their squad, but they were replaced by Sean Williams and

Cephas Zhuwao Cephas Zhuwao (born 15 December 1984) is a Zimbabwean international cricketer. He bats left-handed and bowls slow left arm orthodox spin. Zhuwao made his first-class debut for Northerns in May 2007, having made his limited-overs debut in Ja ...

. Afghanistan's captain Asghar Stanikzai missed the start of the tournament, after having his appendix removed.

captained Afghanistan in Stanikzai's absence. Stanikzai was eventually ruled out of the start of the tournament and was replaced by

Afsar Zazai Afsar Khan Zazai ( ps, افسر ځاځی; born 10 August 1993) is an Afghan cricketer. Afsar is a right-handed wicket-keeper batsman who is known for his batting skills. He was one of the eleven cricketers to play in Afghanistan's first ever Te ...

. Stanikzai returned to the squad, after he was declared fit to play, ahead of Afghanistan's final two Super Six matches. Stanikzai's replacement, Afsar Zazai, was ruled out of the last two matches due to injury. Following Afghanistan's match with Zimbabwe,

was suspended for the final two group matches after being found guilty of damaging part of the ground. Zimbabwe's Brian Vitori was suspended from bowling, following the match with Nepal. He was replaced by

Richard Ngarava Richard Ngarava (born 28 December 1997) is a Zimbabwean cricketer. He made his Twenty20 debut for Zimbabwe against Free State in the 2016 Africa T20 Cup on 9 September 2016. Earlier, he was part of Zimbabwe's squad for the 2016 Under-19 Crick ...

Sheldon Cottrell Sheldon Shane Cottrell (born 19 August 1989) is a Jamaican international cricketer who plays for the West Indies cricket team. He is a left-arm fast-medium bowler and a right-handed batsman. Early life Before starting his cricket career, he sta ...

was replaced in the West Indies squad by Keemo Paul, after Cottrell injured himself during the match against the United Arab Emirates. Ahead of Hong Kong's group match with Scotland, Ahsan Abbasi suffered an injury and was ruled out of the tournament. He was replaced by

Kinchit Shah Kinchit Devang Shah (born 9 December 1995) is an Indian-born Hong Kong cricketer. He is a left-handed batsman and a right-arm off break bowler. He is also an occasional wicket-keeper. Career Shah made his T20 cricket debut against the Canada cr ...

Warm-up matches

Ten non-ODI warm-up matches were played on 27 February and 1 March.

Group stage

The ICC confirmed the fixtures for the tournament in January 2018. All the matches were recorded as ODIs, except those that involved the Netherlands and Nepal, as they did not have ODI status at the start of the tournament. On 8 March 2018, the venues for the final two games in Group B were switched, due to the anticipated attendance for Zimbabwe's last group match. On 13 March 2018, the ICC confirmed all the umpires for the Super Sixes and playoff matches.

Group A

Points table

Fixtures

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Group B

Points table

Fixtures

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Playoffs

---- ---- ----

Super Sixes

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Final

Final standings

These were the final standings at the end of the tournament:

References

External links

Series home at ESPN Cricinfo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cricket World Cup Qualifier, 2018

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Cricket World Cup Qualifier The ICC World Cup Qualifier (previously called the ICC Trophy and officially known as the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Qualifier) is a One-Day International (ODI) cricket tournament that serves as the culmination of the Cricket World Cup qualif ...