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The Cricket World Cup Qualifier is a 10-team competition which will determine the final two places in the main tournament held in India in October and November 2023. It is the culmination of a three-year process involving 32 countries.
It begins on Sunday, June 18 with hosts Zimbabwe taking on Nepal. The twin-group stage runs until June 27. The playoffs to confirm the seventh to 10th places are held between June 30 and July 6, while the all-important Super Six stage takes place between June 29 and July 7, with the final between the two qualifiers being staged on July 9.
The qualifying tournament will take place across four venues in Harare and Bulawayo, the two biggest cities in Zimbabwe. Queen's Sports Club and Bulawayo Athletic Club in Bulawayo, Harare Sports Club and Takashinga Cricket Club in Harare will share 34 matches between them. Harare Sports Club will host the final on July 9. Old Hararians Cricket Club will also be used for warm-up fixtures.
The qualifying tournament features five countries who failed to qualify for the tournament at the first time of asking via the ICC World Cup Super League: Ireland, Netherlands, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Zimbabwe. They are joined by five more sides from League 2, three of which progressed automatically - Scotland, Nepal and Oman - and two others who prevailed via a playoff event - United Arab Emirates and United States.
After playing two warm-up games, each side will enter one of two groups of five. These groups are organised based on ICC ODI rankings.
Group A: West Indies, Zimbabwe, Netherlands, Nepal, United States.
Group B: Sri Lanka, Ireland, Scotland, Oman, United Arab Emirates.
Sri Lanka celebrate World Cup glory in 1996 (Allsport/Getty Images)
Each side plays each other once, after which the top three from each section will advance to the Super Six stage. Taking the points accrued during the first phase forward against the sides that also progress, nations then face those qualifiers from the other group.
The two highest-ranked teams after all matches are complete will qualify for the 2023 Cricket World Cup. The competition will draw to a close with a final between the qualifiers in Harare.
All qualifying matches have ODI status and are overseen by standard playing conditions for the format.
For the first time in a Cricket World Cup qualifying tournament, the Decision Review System will be available from the Super Six stage onwards.
Sri Lanka and West Indies, three times winners of the tournament between them, are favourites to emerge from the three-week event.
Ranked No.7 and No.8 in the men's ICC rankings, they narrowly missed out on automatically progressing via the Super League but will get a second bite at the cherry.
The chasing pack is led by Ireland, who missed out on qualifying in 2019 but were part of the three preceding tournaments, and Zimbabwe who will be on home turf for the duration.
Netherlands, who finished bottom of the Super League, haven't featured in the last two men's Cricket World Cups but will hope to bring forward their form from the T20 showcase when they ousted South Africa.
Scotland finished top of League 2 are well-fancied to complete the Super Six. Nepal and Oman, neither of whom have featured in the Cricket World Cup previously, progressed behind them while USA and UAE, who graced the 1996 and 2015 tournaments, complete the group.
Clive Lloyd lifts the World Cup after West Indies' triumph in 1975 (Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Ireland: Andrew Balbirnie (c), Mark Adair, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Graham Hume, Josh Little, Andy McBrine, Barry McCarthy, PJ Moor, Paul Stirling, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Ben White, Craig Young
Nepal: Rohit Paudel (c), Kushal Bhurtel, Aasif Sheikh, Gyanendra Malla, Kushal Malla, Aarif Sheikh, Dipendra Singh Airee, Gulsan Jha, Sompal Kami, Karan KC, Sandeep Lamichhane, Bhim Sharki, Lalit Rajbanshi, Pratish JC, Arjun Saud, Kishor Mahato
Netherlands: Scott Edwards (c), Max O'Dowd, Logan van Beek, Vikram Singh, Aryan Dutt, Viv Kingma, Bas de Leede, Noah Croes, Ryan Klein, Teja Nidamanuru, Wesley Barresi, Shariz Ahmad, Clayton Floyd, Michael Levitt, Saqib Zulfiqar
Oman: Zeeshan Maqsood (c), Aqib Ilyas (vc), Jatinder Singh, Kashyap Prajapati, Shoaib Khan, Mohammed Nadeem, Sandeep Goud, Ayaan Khan, Suraj Kumar, Adeel Shafique, Naseem Khushi, Bilal Khan, Kaleemullah, Fayyaz Butt, Jay Odedra, Samay Shrivastav, Rafiullah
Scotland: Richie Berrington (c), Matthew Cross, Alasdair Evans, Chris Greaves, Jack Jarvis, Michael Leask, Tom Mackintosh, Chris McBride, Brandon McMullen, George Munsey, Adrian Neill, Safyaan Sharif, Chris Sole, Hamza Tahir, Mark Watt
Sri Lanka: Dasun Shanaka (c), Kusal Mendis (vc & wk), Dimuth Karunaratne, Pathum Nissanka, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Sadeera Samarawickrama (wk), Wanindu Hasaranga, Chamika Karunaratne, Dushmantha Chameera, Kasun Rajitha, Lahiru Kumara, Maheesh Theekshana, Matheesha Pathirana, Dushan Hemantha
UAE: Mohammad Waseem (c), Ethan D'Souza, Ali Naseer, Vriitya Aravind, Rameez Shahzad, Jawadullah, Asif Khan, Rohan Mustafa, Aayan Khan, Junaid Siddique, Zahoor Khan, Sanchit Sharma, Aryansh Sharma, Karthik Meiyappan, Basil Hameed
USA: Monank Patel (c), Aaron Jones (vc), Abhishek Paradkar, Ali Khan, Gajanand Singh, Jasdeep Singh, Kyle Philip, Nisarg Patel, Nostush Kenjige, Saiteja Mukkamalla, Saurabh Netravalkar, Shayan Jahangir, Steven Taylor, Sushant Modani, Usman Rafiq
West Indies: Shai Hope (c), Rovman Powell (vc), Shamarh Brooks, Yannic Cariah, Keacy Carty, Johnson Charles, Roston Chase, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Brandon King, Kyle Mayers, Keemo Paul, Nicholas Pooran, Romario Shepherd
Zimbabwe: Ryan Burl, Tendai Chatara, Craig Ervine, Bradley Evans, Joylord Gumbie, Luke Jongwe, Innocent Kaia, Clive Madande, Wessly Madhevere, Tadiwanashe Marumani, Wellington Masakadza, Blessing Muzarabani, Richard Ngarava, Sikandar Raza, Sean Williams
Can Andrew Balbirnie's Ireland return to the Cricket World Cup? (MUNIR UZ ZAMAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Broadcast details will be confirmed in due course.
Warm-up
Tuesday, June 13: West Indies v Scotland (Harare Sports Club), Zimbabwe v Oman (Takashinga Cricket Club), Nepal v UAE (Old Hararians Cricket Club), Sri Lanka v Netherlands (Queen's Sports Club), Ireland v USA (Bulawayo Athletic Club)
Thursday, June 15: Nepal v Oman (Harare Sports Club), West Indies v UAE (Takashinga Cricket Club), Zimbabwe v Scotland (Old Hararians Cricket Club), Ireland v Netherlands (Queen's Sports Club), Sri Lanka v USA (Bulawayo Athletic Club)
Group Stage
Sunday, June 18: Zimbabwe v Nepal (Harare Sports Club), West Indies v USA (Takashinga Cricket Club)
Monday, June 19: Sri Lanka v UAE (Queen's Sports Club), Ireland v Oman (Bulawayo Athletic Club)
Tuesday, June 20: Zimbabwe v Netherlands (Harare Sports Club), Nepal v USA (Takashinga Cricket Club)
Wednesday, June 21: Ireland v Scotland (Queen's Sports Club), Oman v UAE (Bulawayo Athletic Club)
Thursday, June 22: West Indies v Nepal (Harare Sports Club), Netherlands v USA (Takashinga Cricket Club)
Friday, June 23: Sri Lanka v Oman (Queen's Sports Club), Scotland v UAE (Bulawayo Athletic Club)
Saturday, June 24: Zimbabwe v West Indies (Harare Sports Club), Netherlands v Nepal (Takashinga Cricket Club)
Sunday, June 25: Sri Lanka v Ireland (Queen's Sports Club), Scotland v Oman (Bulawayo Athletic Club)
Monday, June 26: Zimbabwe v USA (Harare Sports Club), West Indies v Netherlands (Takashinga Cricket Club)
Tuesday, June 27: Sri Lanka v Scotland (Queen's Sports Club), Ireland v UAE (Bulawayo Athletic Club)
Hosts Zimbabwe will be strong on home turf (JEKESAI NJIKIZANA/AFP via Getty Images)
7th-10th playoffs
Friday, June 30: A5 v B4 (Takashinga Cricket Club)
Sunday, July 2: A4 v B5 (Takashinga Cricket Club)
Tuesday, July 4: Winner of A5 v B4 v Winner of A4 v B5
Thursday, July 6: Loser of A5 v B4 v Loser of A4 v B5
Super Six
Thursday, June 29: A2 v B2 (Queen's Sports Club)
Friday, June 30: A3 v B1 (Queen's Sports Club)
Saturday, July 1: A1 v B3 (Harare Sports Club)
Sunday, July 2: A2 v B1 (Queen's Sports Club)
Monday, July 3: A3 v B2 (Harare Sports Club)
Tuesday, July 4: A2 v B3 (Queen's Sports Club)
Wednesday, July 5: A1 v B2 (Harare Sports Club)
Thursday, July 6: A3 v B3 (Queen's Sports Club)
Friday, July 7: A1 v B1 (Harare Sports Club)
Final
Sunday, July 9: TBC (Harare Sports Club)
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