2019–23 ICC Cricket World Cup League 2

2019–2023 ICC Cricket World Cup League 2
Dates14 August 2019 – 16 March 2023
Administrator(s)International Cricket Council
Cricket formatOne Day International
Tournament format(s)Tri Series
Host(s)Various
Champions Scotland (1st title)
Runners-up Oman
Participants7
Matches126
Most runsNamibia Gerhard Erasmus (1298)
Most wicketsOman Bilal Khan (76)

The 2019–2023 ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 was the first edition of the ICC Cricket World Cup League 2, a cricket tournament which formed part of the 2023 Cricket World Cup qualification process.[1][2] The tournament was played from August 2019 to March 2023,[3] with all matches played as One Day Internationals (ODIs).[4] Each set of fixtures was planned to take place as a tri-series.[5]

Scotland, Nepal and the United Arab Emirates were joined by the top four teams from the 2019 ICC World Cricket League Division Two tournament.[6] Round 1 was played in Aberdeen, Scotland in August 2019.[7]

The league table combined both the qualification for the 2023 World Cup with the system of promotion and relegation for the following editions of the various Cricket leagues. For qualification to the World Cup, the top three teams advanced directly to the 2023 Cricket World Cup Qualifier tournament, while the bottom four teams were sent to the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier Play-off.[8] In that Play-off those bottom four teams were joined by the top two teams from the Challenge League, with the top two teams from that Play-off advancing to the Qualifier Tournament.

For promotion, it was originally intended that the top ranked team in this CWC League 2 would gain the opportunity to be promoted to the 2020–2023 ICC Cricket World Cup Super League if it finished higher than the 13th-placed Super League team at the 2023 Cricket World Cup Qualifier.[6][9] However, in November 2021, the ICC announced that there would not be a second edition of the Super League, guaranteeing that Scotland would remain in the next League 2.[10]

For relegation, United Arab Emirates and Papua New Guinea finished 6th and 7th, respectively. As a result, the Play-off tournament for them not only determined qualification for the World Cup, but also whether or not they would be relegated to the Challenge League. Among the six teams in that Play-off, the two teams among the United Arab Emirates, Papua New Guinea, Canada and Jersey (who had finished in the top two of the Challenge League), would qualify for the next edition of League 2. For the teams that finished 4th and 5th, Namibia and The United States, the play-off would determine only their World Cup qualification—even last place finishes for those teams would not result in relegation.[11]

Scotland secured first place in the league on 15 February 2023 with a 10-wicket win against Namibia.[12] They were presented with the trophy at the end of round 19 of the tournament in Kirtipur.[13] Oman and Nepal finished in second and third, respectively, with Nepal winning 11 of their final 12 matches to pass Namibia in the final match of the tournament and secure a place in the 2023 Cricket World Cup Qualifier tournament.

Teams

A diagram that explains the qualification structure for the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup
A diagram that explains the qualification structure for the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup.
Main articles: 2023 Cricket World Cup Qualifier and 2023 Cricket World Cup
Team Mode of qualification
   Nepal[14] Existing ODI status
 Scotland[14]
 United Arab Emirates[14]
 Namibia[15] Promoted from 2019 ICC World Cricket League Division Two
 Oman[16]
 Papua New Guinea[17]
 United States[18]

The top three teams in the ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 qualified for the World Cup Qualifier while the bottom four went to the Qualifier Play-off.[19]

Fixtures

The International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed the following schedule of fixtures.[3][20] In December 2020, the ICC announced a revised schedule following the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.[21] In March 2022, the ICC issued a further update for rounds 9 to 15, with those rounds scheduled to take place from March to August 2022.[22]

Round Date Host team 2nd team 3rd team Notes
1 August 2019  Scotland  Oman  Papua New Guinea
2 September 2019  United States  Papua New Guinea  Namibia
3 December 2019  United Arab Emirates  Scotland  United States
4 January 2020  Oman  Namibia  United Arab Emirates The final two matches were postponed to round 8 following the death of Qaboos bin Said.[23]
5 February 2020    Nepal  United States  Oman
6 September 2021  Oman  United States    Nepal Originally scheduled for January 2021;[3] postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
7 September 2021  Oman  Scotland  Papua New Guinea Originally scheduled for January 2022.[3]
8 November 2021  Namibia  Oman  United Arab Emirates Originally scheduled for August 2021;[3] postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Included the two matches postponed from round 4.[24] However, only two matches were played before the remaining matches were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
N/A February 2022  Oman  United Arab Emirates N/A Arranged to make up for matches postponed during round 4 and round 8.[25]
9 March 2022  United Arab Emirates  Namibia  Oman Originally scheduled for December 2020;[3] postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Included one match postponed from round 4.[26]
10 March 2022  United Arab Emirates  Papua New Guinea    Nepal Originally scheduled for January 2022.[3]
11 April 2022  Papua New Guinea  Oman  Scotland Originally scheduled for April 2021;[3] postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Later moved from Papua New Guinea to the UAE.[27]
12 May 2022  United States  Scotland  United Arab Emirates Originally scheduled for March 2020;[3] postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
13 June 2022  United States    Nepal  Oman Originally scheduled for August 2021;[3] postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
14 July 2022  Scotland    Nepal  Namibia Originally scheduled for July 2020;[3] postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
15 August 2022  Scotland  United Arab Emirates  United States Originally scheduled for June 2021;[3] postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
16 September 2022  Papua New Guinea  Namibia  United States Originally scheduled for September 2021;[3] postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
17 November 2022  Namibia  Papua New Guinea  United States Originally scheduled for September 2020;[3] postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
18 December 2022  Namibia    Nepal  Scotland Originally scheduled for April 2020;[3] postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
19 February 2023    Nepal  Namibia  Scotland
N/A February 2023  United Arab Emirates  Namibia N/A Arranged to make up for matches postponed during round 8.
20 February 2023  United Arab Emirates    Nepal  Papua New Guinea This was the second tri-series between these sides to be hosted by the UAE (Papua New Guinea did not host a tri-series).
21 March 2023    Nepal  Papua New Guinea  United Arab Emirates

As originally planned, each team would host three tri-series, each time joined by a different two of the other six teams. Each tri-series would comprise six matches (two between each pair of teams). Therefore, over the course of the whole tournament, each team would play each other team twice at home, twice away, and twice at a neutral venue. Some matches had to be rescheduled for different times and venues (see below), so this original schedule did not happen fully as planned, but each team did play a total of six fixtures against each other team.

Alterations

Two of Oman's home matches were cancelled during round 4, and they were ultimately played as part of a home bilateral series (against the UAE in February 2022) and as an additional game (against Namibia) in round 9 in the UAE.

On 13 March 2020, round 6, scheduled to take place in Lauderhill, Florida in April 2020, was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and travel restrictions to the United States.[28][29] On 24 March 2020, the ICC also confirmed that rounds 7 and 8, scheduled to take place in Namibia and Papua New Guinea respectively, had also been postponed.[30] Round 9, scheduled to take place in Scotland in July 2020, was postponed on 10 June 2020.[31] Round 10, scheduled to take place in Namibia in September 2020, was postponed on 23 July 2020.[32]

In February 2021, the ICC confirmed that (newly numbered) rounds 6, 7, and 8 of their updated schedule had also been postponed.[33] Round 6 was scheduled to take place in Oman, with rounds 7 and 8 originally scheduled to be played in Papua New Guinea.[34] Round 8 was rescheduled to take place in Namibia during November and December 2021.[35] However, only two matches were played before the remaining fixtures were postponed due to the discovery of a new variant of COVID-19 in Southern Africa.[36]

In February 2022, Oman and the UAE played a three-match bilateral series in Oman to make up for games that had been postponed during the earlier tri-series in Oman and Namibia.[37] In April 2022, Papua New Guinea's home tri-series against Oman and Scotland (round 11) was played in the UAE.[27] In February 2023, the UAE hosted Namibia for a two-match bilateral series to make up for games that had been postponed during round 8 in Namibia. The UAE hosted two tri-series against Nepal and Papua New Guinea (rounds 10 and 20), including one that would originally have been played in Papua New Guinea.

Results

Results from the home and away matches are as follows:

Home \ Away Namibia Nepal Oman Papua New Guinea Scotland United Arab Emirates United States
Namibia  — 1–0 [2] 1–1 [2] 2–0 [2] 1–1 [2] —1 1–1 [2]
Nepal    2–0 [2] — 0–2 [2] 2–0 [2] 2–0 [2] 2–0 [2] 2–0 [2]
Oman  0–1 [1] 1–1 [2] — 2–0 [2] 0–1 [2] 1–2 [4]2 2–0 [2]
Papua New Guinea  0–2 [2] —3 0–2 [2]4 — 0–2 [2]4 —3 1–0 [2]
Scotland  2–0 [2] 1–1 [2] 1–1 [2] 2–0 [2] — 2–0 [2] 1–1 [2]
United Arab Emirates  3–1 [4]1 3–1 [4]3 0–2 [2] 1–3 [4]3 1–0 [2] — 0–2 [2]
United States  1–1 [2] 1–0 [2] 1–1 [2] 2–0 [2] 1–1 [2] 1–1 [2] —
Source:
The numbers in square brackets are the numbers of matches played.
1Namibia's designated home matches against the UAE were played in the UAE.[38]
2The neutral venue matches between Oman and the UAE were played in Oman.
3Papua New Guinea's designated home matches against Nepal and the UAE, and the neutral venue matches between Nepal and the UAE, were played in the UAE.
4Papua New Guinea's designated home matches against Oman and Scotland were played at a neutral venue (the UAE).
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Results from the neutral venue matches are as follows:

Team 1 \ Team 2 Namibia Nepal Oman Papua New Guinea Scotland United Arab Emirates United States
Namibia  — 2–0 [2] 2–1 [3] 2–0 [2] 0–2 [2] 0–2 [2] 2–0 [2]
Nepal    — — 1–1 [2] 4–0 [4]3 0–2 [2] —3 1–1 [2]
Oman  — — — 2–0 [2] 0–2 [2] —2 2–0 [2]
Papua New Guinea  — — — — 0–2 [2] 1–1 [2] 0–2 [2]
Scotland  — — — — — 1–1 [2] 1–1 [2]
United Arab Emirates  — — — — — — 0–1 [2]
United States  — — — — — — —
Source:
The numbers in square brackets are the numbers of matches played.
1Namibia's designated home matches against the UAE were played in the UAE.[39]
2The neutral venue matches between Oman and the UAE were played in Oman.
3Papua New Guinea's designated home matches against Nepal and the UAE, and the neutral venue matches between Nepal and the UAE, were played in the UAE.
4Papua New Guinea's designated home matches against Oman and Scotland were played at a neutral venue (the UAE).
Legend: Blue = left column team win; Yellow = draw; Red = top row team win.

Points table

Pos Team
 Pld W L T NR Pts NRR Qualification for
1  Scotland 36 24 10 0 2 50 0.647 2023 Cricket World Cup Qualifier
2  Oman 36 21 13 1 1 44 0.039
3    Nepal 36 19 15 1 1 40 0.101
4  Namibia 36 19 16 0 1 39 0.298 2023 Cricket World Cup Qualifier Play-off
5  United States 36 16 17 2 1 35 −0.040
6  United Arab Emirates 36 15 18 1 2 33 −0.222
7  Papua New Guinea 36 5 30 1 0 11 −0.792
Source: ESPN Cricinfo

Statistics

Most runs

Batsman Mat Inns NO Runs Ave Strike rate HS 100s 50s
Namibia Gerhard Erasmus 34 33 3 1,298 43.26 77.91 121* 1 11
Papua New Guinea Assad Vala 36 36 1 1,290 36.85 70.37 104 1 6
United States Monank Patel 35 35 2 1,219 36.93 80.30 130 2 8
United States Aaron Jones 31 31 3 1,184 42.29 72.59 123* 1 8
Oman Jatinder Singh 36 35 1 1,098 32.29 77.92 118* 3 6
Source: ESPNcricinfo[40]

Highest individual score

Batsman Runs Balls 4s 6s Opposition Ground Match date
Namibia Jean-Pierre Kotze 136 109 11 8  United States Lauderhill 20 September 2019
Scotland Calum MacLeod 133* 144 13 2  United States Aberdeen 17 August 2022
Namibia Michael van Lingen 133 137 9 5    Nepal Kathmandu 14 February 2023
United States Monank Patel 130 101 11 6  Oman Pearland 8 June 2022
Namibia Craig Williams 129* 94 13 6  Oman Muscat 8 January 2020
Source: ESPNcricinfo[41]

Most wickets

Bowler Mat Inns Wkts Runs Overs BBI Ave Econ SR 4WI 5WI
Oman Bilal Khan 35 35 76 1,419 298.4 5/31 18.67 4.75 23.5 3 3
Nepal Sandeep Lamichhane 31 30 72 1,142 282.0 6/16 15.86 4.04 23.5 5 2
United States Saurabh Netravalkar 35 34 58 1,234 298.3 5/32 21.27 4.13 30.8 1 2
Scotland Mark Watt 31 30 54 969 269.0 5/33 17.94 3.60 29.8 3 1
Namibia Ruben Trumpelmann 29 29 51 1,123 236.5 5/30 22.01 4.74 27.8 2 2
Source: ESPNcricinfo[42]

Best bowling figures in an innings

Bowler Wkts Runs Overs Mdns Econ Opposition Ground Match date
Nepal Sandeep Lamichhane 6 16 6 1 2.66  United States Kirtipur 12 February 2020
Namibia Tangeni Lungameni 6 42 9 0 4.66  Papua New Guinea Windhoek 23 November 2022
Oman Khawar Ali 5 13 4.2 1 3.00  Papua New Guinea Muscat 1 October 2021
United Arab Emirates Basil Hameed 5 17 6.2 0 2.68  Oman Muscat 6 February 2022
Papua New Guinea Riley Hekure 5 20 8 1 2.50  United Arab Emirates Dubai 5 March 2023
Source: ESPNcricinfo[43]

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