2007 Cricket World Cup qualification

The 2007 Cricket World Cup was contested between 16 of the 97 countries that are members of the International Cricket Council. The 11 teams with One-Day International status at the time of drafting qualified automatically for the World Cup. Meanwhile, the 86 other members of the ICC played off in a series of tournaments to capture one of the remaining five spots in the World Cup.

European Cricket Council Trophy 2003

Held in Austria in August 2003, the European Cricket Council Trophy 2003 was contested by 11 teams across 3 preliminary groups. The top four teams from these groups progressed through to a championship group, where each team played each other once.^[1]

Group Stages:

Group 1 Team Pts Pld W L  Malta 4 2 2 0  Finland 2 2 1 1  Portugal 0 2 0 2

Group 2 Team Pts Pld W L  Greece 6 3 3 0  Austria 4 3 2 1   Switzerland 2 3 1 2  Luxembourg 0 3 0 3

Group 3 Team Pts Pld W L  Norway 6 3 3 0  Spain 4 3 2 1  Belgium 2 3 1 2  Croatia 0 3 0 3

Group Standings: Norway, Greece, Malta and Austria progressed to the Championship Group.

Championship Group
Team	Pts	Pld	W	L
Norway	6	3	3	0
Austria	2	3	1	2
Malta	2	3	1	2
Greece	2	3	1	2

Final Standings: Norway qualified to participate in European Championships 2nd Division 2004, after finishing on top of the championship group.

Affiliates Tournaments

ICC WCQS Tournament - Africa Affiliates

Held in Africa during March 2004, 8 teams (from 7 countries and a South Africa Country Districts team) played off in two groups of four. After each team has played one game against the other three teams in their pool, the top two teams advanced to the next round. The two top teams in each group progressed, playing semi-finals, a third-place play-off and a final, where South Africa Country Districts defeated Botswana.^[2]

Final Standings:

In bold: Advanced to the ICC Six Nations WCQS Tournament

Botswana qualified to participate in the ICC Six Nations WCQS Tournament, after being the country with the highest standing at the end of the tournament

In italics: Won tournament but was not eligible to advance to next the stage

South Africa Country Districts were undefeated throughout the tournament, but because they were not a country, were not eligible to advance to the ICC Six Nations WCQS Tournament

Group 1 Team Pts Pld W L  Botswana 6 3 3 0  Malawi 4 3 2 1  Sierra Leone 2 3 1 2  Gambia 0 3 0 3	Group 2 Team Pts Pld W L SACD 6 3 3 0  Ghana 4 3 2 1  Mozambique 2 3 1 2  Rwanda 0 3 0 3
Final Points Table Team Pts Pld W L SACD 10 5 5 0  Botswana 8 5 4 1  Ghana 6 5 3 2  Malawi 4 5 2 3

Americas Affiliates Championship 2004

Similarly to the African Affiliates playoff, the Americas Affiliates Championship was contested in March 2004 to decide the team that would progress through to the next round.^[3] Five ICC Affiliate members played off in a round-robin format from 23 March to 27 March, playing each other once.

Team	Pts	Pld	W	L	NR	NRR
Bahamas	24	4	4	0	0	2.368
Panama	18	4	3	1	0	0.898
Belize	12	4	2	2	0	1.159
Turks and Caicos Islands	6	4	1	3	0	-1.998
Suriname	0	4	0	4	0	-2.208

European Championships 2nd Division 2004

Competed in Belgium in 2004 and separate to the 1st Division Championships for the first time, six countries played off on four grounds in Antwerp, Brussels and Mechelen.^[4] Italy went through unbeaten, qualifying for a play off at the ICC World Cup Qualifying Series Division 2 for the twelfth and final place for the 2005 ICC Trophy.

Team	Pts	Pld	W	T	NR	L
Italy	10	5	5	0	0	0
France	6	5	3	0	0	2
Germany	6	5	3	0	0	2
Norway	4	5	2	0	0	3
Gibraltar	4	5	2	0	0	3
Israel	0	5	0	0	0	5

Final Regional Qualifying Events

Asian Cricket Council Trophy

Hosted in Malaysia in June 2004, the ACC Trophy^[5] was contested by 15 countries divided into four groups. The tournament then progressed into a knockout phase, with the top two teams from each group progressing to the quarter finals. At the end of the tournament, the runner-up Oman and the winner United Arab Emirates, did enough to secure themselves a spot in the ICC Trophy.

ICC Six Nations WCQS Tournament

Both Namibia and Uganda qualified for the ICC Trophy after they finished ahead of the other four teams in a round robin tournament played in Zambia in August 2004.^[6]

Team	Pts	Pld	W	L	RRF	RRA	NRR
Namibia	25	5	5	0	5.11	2.31	2.80
Uganda	20	5	4	1	3.77	2.99	0.78
Zambia	10	5	2	3	3.58	3.98	-0.40
Botswana	10	5	2	3	4.24	4.59	-0.35
Nigeria	5	5	1	4	3.34	4.91	-1.57
Tanzania	5	5	1	4	3.01	5.08	-2.07

European Championships 2004

Even though the tournament isn't considered to be a qualification tournament, the European Championship^[7] is considered to be the most important European tournament on the calendar. Contested by Denmark, Holland, Ireland, Scotland as well as an ECB England XI, the format is a round robin tournament, with the winner being the team that finishes on top. Denmark, Holland, Ireland and Scotland were already guaranteed a direct spot into the ICC Trophy, with the ECB XI being ineligible.

Team	Pts	Pld	W	T	NR	L
ECB England XI	8	4	4	0	0	0
Ireland	6	4	3	0	0	1
Netherlands	4	4	2	0	0	2
Scotland	2	4	1	0	0	3
Denmark	0	4	0	0	0	4

Americas Cricket Championship

Bermuda hosted the 2004 Americas Cricket Championship^[8] in July 2004, which was played as a round robin tournament with the top three out of the six teams preogressing through to the ICC Trophy.

Team	Pts	Pld	W	L	NR	NRR
Canada	20	5	5	0	0	2.157
United States	16	5	4	1	0	2.132
Bermuda	12	5	3	2	0	0.944
Cayman Islands	8	5	2	3	0	-0.198
Argentina	4	5	1	4	0	-2.007
Bahamas	0	5	0	5	0	-2.226

ICC East Asia-Pacific Cricket Challenge 2004

Japan hosted the tournament^[9] from May 25 to May 29, 2004, with teams from Fiji, Indonesia, Japan and Tonga contesting in a round robin format, with the top two ranked teams, Fiji and Tonga, playing in a final to decide the tournament winner. Fiji beat Tonga in the final by 181 runs, hence qualifying to the ICC World Cup Qualifying Series Division 2.

Team	Pld	W	L
Fiji	3	3	0
Tonga	3	2	1
Indonesia	3	1	2
Japan	3	0	3

World Cup Qualifying Series Division 2 2005

This new event^[10] for the eight teams that had narrowly missed out on direct qualification for the ICC Trophy was played in Malaysia in February 2005. Two groups of four teams each played each other in a round robin stage, with the top two teams from each group progressing to a knockout stage, where the winners would progress to a final. Papua New Guinea emerged winners in Kuala Lumpur on 26 February, beating Fiji by 30 runs. Papua New Guinea therefore managed to grab the final spot into the ICC Trophy.

Group A

Team	Pts	Pld	W	T	L
Papua New Guinea	6	3	3	0	0
Nepal	4	3	2	0	1
Kuwait	2	3	1	0	2
Italy	0	3	0	0	3

Group B

Team	Pts	Pld	W	T	L
Fiji	6	3	3	0	0
Qatar	4	3	2	0	1
Cayman Islands	2	3	1	0	2
Zambia	0	3	0	0	3

	Semi-finals				Final
	25 February - Selangor Turf Club
	Papua New Guinea	9/260
	Qatar	10/224
					27 February - Royal Selangor Club
					Papua New Guinea	10/176
					Fiji	10/146
					Third place
	25 February - Bayumas Oval			27 February - Bayumas Oval
	Fiji	8/143		Nepal	7/176
	Nepal	10/140			Qatar	10/78

2005 ICC Trophy

The 2005 ICC Trophy was a cricket tournament held in Ireland between 1 July and 13 July. It was an international one-day tournament played over 50 overs per side between 12 associate members of the International Cricket Council. It came with the prize of a place in the 2007 Cricket World Cup (and together with it a share of US$2,500,000 for future development) for the five top-ranked teams, and with the prize of official One Day International status from 1 January 2006 (until the 2009 ICC Trophy) for the five top-ranked teams along with Kenya, who had already been given official one-day status till the 2009 Trophy.

On 7 July, Ireland, Bermuda, Scotland and Canada qualified for the semi-finals. With that, they also won places in the 2007 Cricket World Cup and, from 1 January 2006, official One Day International status. On 11 July, the Netherlands also achieved this by beating the UAE to finish fifth. Scotland won the tournament, beating Ireland in the final.

Notes and references