What makes ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2018 interesting is the presence of two-time World Champions, West Indies. The Windies missed out on direct qualification for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, to be held in England, after they were ranked outside of the top eight in the ICC ODI rankings. The cut-off date for qualification was set to 30 September 2017.

10 teams, including West Indies, will now fight it out for the two available places in the ICC World Cup 2019. Apart from Windies, Afghanistan, Ireland and Zimbabwe had also missed out on automatic qualification. The ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2018 will take place in Zimbabwe between March 04 and 25.

Nepal and United Arab Emirates (UAE) finished as the top two teams at the ICC World Cricket League Division 2 and thus join Hong Kong, Netherlands, Scotland and Papua New Guinea apart from West Indies, Afghanistan, Ireland and Zimbabwe.

The ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2018 will be held across three cities- Bulawayo, Harare and Kwekwe. In Harare, Harare Sports Club and Old Hararians Sports Club will host the matches. Queen’s Sports Club and Bulawayo Athletic Club have been selected as venues in Bulawayo while Kwekwe Sports Club in Kwekwe is another venue.

Group A: West Indies, Ireland, Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, and United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Group B: Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, Scotland, Hong Kong, and Nepal.

Full ICC World Cup Qualifiers 2018 Schedule:

Date

Teams Venue

Time (IST)

March 4

Papua New Guinea vs United Arab Emirates Harare 1:00 PM
March 4 Ireland vs Netherlands Harare

1:00 PM

March 4

Zimbabwe vs Nepal Bulawayo 1:00 PM
March 4 Afghanistan vs Scotland Bulawayo

1:00 PM

March 6

Papua New Guinea vs Ireland Harare 1:00 PM
March 6 West Indies vs United Arab Emirates Harare

1:00 PM

March 6

Zimbabwe vs Afghanistan Bulawayo 1:00 PM
March 6 Scotland vs Hong Kong Bulawayo

1:00 PM

March 8

Netherlands vs United Arab Emirates Harare 1:00 PM
March 8 West Indies vs Papua New Guinea Harare

1:00 PM

March 8

Scotland vs Nepal Bulawayo 1:00 PM
March 8 Afghanistan vs Hong Kong Bulawayo

1:00 PM

March 10

West Indies vs Ireland Harare 1:00 PM
March 10 Papua New Guinea vs Netherlands Harare

1:00 PM

March 10

Zimbabwe vs Hong Kong Bulawayo 1:00 PM
March 10 Afghanistan vs Nepal Bulawayo

1:00 PM

March 12

West Indies vs Netherlands Harare 1:00 PM
March 12 Ireland vs United Arab Emirates Harare

1:00 PM

March 12

Hong Kong vs Nepal Bulawayo 1:00 PM
March 12 Zimbabwe vs Scotland Bulawayo

1:00 PM

March 15

Super Sixes Match 1 Harare 1:00 PM
March 15 Super Sixes Match 2 Bulawayo

1:00 PM

March 15

Play-off Harare 1:00 PM
March 15 Play-off Kwekwe

1:00 PM

March 16

Super Sixes Match 3 Harare 1:00 PM
March 17 7th place play-off Kwekwe

1:00 PM

March 17

9th place play-off Harare

1:00 PM

March 18

Super Sixes Match 4 Harare 1:00 PM
March 19 Super Sixes Match 5 Harare

1:00 PM

March 20

Super Sixes Match 6 Harare 1:00 PM
March 22 Super Sixes Match 7 Harare

1:00 PM

March 22

Super Sixes Match 8 Harare

1:00 PM

March 23

Super Sixes Match 9 Harare 1:00 PM
March 25 Final Harare

1:00 PM

Each team will face other four sides once in their respective groups. Top three teams from each group will then proceed to Super Six stage. During this phase, the teams will play three more matches but will face sides they did not meet in the group stage.

As per ICC, all points won in the groups will be carried over to the Super Six stage apart from those gained against the bottom two from each group. Two teams qualifying for the final will apparently make it to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 26, 2018 11:26 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).