The International Cricket Council launched the Cricket World Cup Super League on Monday. England’s upcoming ODI series against Ireland will mark the beginning of the same on July 30. The league will act as a qualification pathway to determine participants for the next men’s ODI World Cup in India. Geoff Allardice, ICC General Manager – Cricket Operations, said, “We are delighted to get the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League underway with World Cup winners England against Ireland.”
Thirteen teams including 12 full ICC members and Netherlands, the winners of the ICC World Cricket Super League 2015-17 will feature in the Super League with the top seven teams, besides hosts India, directly getting qualified for the main event in 2023. Each side will play four home and four away three-match series. Teams will get 10 points for winning a match and 5 for no result or a Tie. The World Cup Super League was originally scheduled to run between May 2020 and March 2022 but due to the pandemic the ICC had to postpone the dates.
The ICC General Manager opined, “The league will bring relevance and context to ODI cricket over the next three years, as qualification for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 is at stake. The Super League gives cricket fans around the world even more reasons to watch as the drama of league cricket unfolds.” He added, “The decision last week to move the World Cup back to late 2023 gives us more time to schedule any games lost due to COVID-19 and preserve the integrity of the qualification process, meaning it will be decided on the field of play, which is important.”
England’s World Cup winning captain Eoin Morgan said, “Ireland are a talented team who have shown over the years that they can beat the best on their day. We look forward to what promises to be an interesting series.” Andrew Balbirnie, the captain of Ireland cricket team said, It’s a privilege to be playing in the inaugural series of the ICC Men’s World Cup Super League. It is obviously going to be a huge challenge taking on the team that won the World Cup just a year ago but we have prepared well and have taken confidence from our form over the early months of 2020.”