Malaysia Cricket to host ICC CWC Challenge League play-off in February/March 2024

After the conclusion of the first cycle of Challenge League competition, which is part of the CWC Qualification pathway event for 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup, ICC have confirmed that the Challenge League structure will continue towards qualification for the 2027 ICC Cricket World Cup in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia. The bottom two (2) placed teams in the points table from both the Challenge League groups (A & B) will compete with the top four (4) countries from below the Challenge League cycle for 2023 in a play-off tournament, who meet requirements regarding national domestic one-day cricket structure and ICC Team T20I rating as of 30th September 2023.

Men’s National teams of Malaysia and Vanuatu have been relegated to the play-off tournament from Challenge League group A, while teams of Italy and Bermuda have been relegated from Challenge League group B, and will be joined by teams from Kuwait, Bahrain, Tanzania and Saudi Arabia in the play-off tournament, based on their ICC T20I team ranking as on the cut-off date mentioned above. Malaysia Cricket Association (MCA) have been awarded the hosting rights for the tournament, which will be taking place from February 22nd – March 03rd, 2024. Group A will comprise of teams from Bermuda, Saudi Arabia, Italy and Kuwait, while Group B will comprise of teams from Malaysia, Vanuatu, Bahrain and Tanzania.

At the end of the single round-robin group stage format, the top three (3) teams in both the groups will advance to the Super Six stage of the competition. with all matches to be played in the 50-overs format (List-A status). The top (4) placed teams in the play-off event will then advance to the Challenge League groups A and B for the next cycle for the 2027 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup.

Challenge League Play-off Qualifier Super6 Schedule

28th February 2024: Tanzania vs Bermuda (Scorecard) ; Bahrain vs Italy (Scorecard) ; Vanuatu vs Kuwait (Scorecard)

01st March 2024: Italy vs Tanzania (Scorecard) ; Bahrain vs Kuwait (Scorecard) ; Bermuda vs Vanuatu (Scorecard)

03rd March 2024: Bermuda vs Bahrain (Scorecard) ; Vanuatu vs Italy (Scorecard) ; Kuwait vs Tanzania (Scorecard)

Squads

Bermuda: Delray Rawlins (Captain), Kamau Leverock, Terryn Fray, Tre Manders, Chris Douglas, Allan Douglas Jr, Derrick Brangman, Sinclair Smith, Zeko Burgess, Cejay Outerbridge, Dominic Sabir, Jarryd Richardson, Chare Smith and Marcus Scotland

Italy: Gareth Berg (Captain), Grant Stewart, Wayne Madsen, Anthony Joseph Mosca, Marcus Campopiano, Gian Piero Sergio Meade, Stefano Di Bartolomeo, Jaspreet Singh, Rakibul Hasan, Nikolai Smith, Nimna Pauththuwadura, Fida Hussain, Nicholas Maiolo and Damith Kosala

Bahrain: Sohail Ahmed (Captain), Haider Ali, Prashant Kurup, Ahmer Bin Nasir, Rizwan Butt, Ali Dawood, Imran Javed, Abdul Majid Abbasi, Sachin Kumar, Sathaiyah Veerapathiran, Junaid Aziz, Shahbaz Badar, Muhammad Mohsin Zaki and Abid Ullah Halim

Vanuatu: Joshua Rasu (Captain), Ronald Tari, Jarryd Allan, Tim Cutler, Junior Kaltapau, Andrew Mansale, Patrick Matautaava, Williamsing Nalisa, Nalin Nipiko, Simpsons Obed, Apolinaire Stephen, Clement Tommy, Jamal Vira, Darren Wotu and Womajo Wotu (T20Is only)

Tanzania: Abhik Patwa (Captain), Ally Kimote, Akhil Anil, Ivan Selemani, Johnson Nyambo, Kassimu Nassoro, Mohamed Yunusi, Mohamed Kitunda, Ramesh Alluri, Salum Jumbe, Sanjay Thakor, Yalinde Maurice, Zamoyoni Jabeneke and Laksh Bakrania

Kuwait: Mohammad Aslam (Captain), Adnan Idrees, Bilal Tahir, Clinto Anto, Ilyas Ahmed, Meet Bhavsar, Mohammed Shafeeq, Muhammad Amin, Ravija Sandaruwan, Sharook Quddus, Shiraz Khan, Syed Munib, Usman and Yasin Patel

Malaysia: Virandeep Singh (Captain), Ahmad Faiz, Syed Aziz, Amir Azim, Sharvin Muniandy, Ahmad Zubaidi, Vijay Unni, Ainool Hafizs, Pavandeep Singh, Rizwan Haider, Khizar Hayat, Aqeel Wahid, Shyahadat Ramli and Muhammad Wafiq

Warm-up Fixtures

16th – 20th February 2024: MCA XI vs Italy (Scorecard) ; Italy vs Kuwait (Scorecard) ; Bahrain vs Bermuda (Scorecard)

CWC Challenge League Qualifier (Play-off) Schedule (Group Stage)

22nd February 2024: Italy vs Bermuda (Scorecard) ; Vanuatu vs Bahrain (Scorecard) ; Kuwait vs Saudi Arabia (Scorecard)

23rd February 2024: Tanzania vs Vanuatu (Scorecard) ; Saudi Arabia vs Italy (Scorecard) ; Bahrain vs Malaysia (Scorecard)

25th February 2024: Bermuda vs Saudi Arabia (Scorecard) ; Malaysia vs Tanzania (Scorecard) ; Italy vs Kuwait (Scorecard)

26th February 2024: Tanzania vs Bahrain (Scorecard) ; Kuwait vs Bermuda (Scorecard) ; Vanuatu vs Malaysia (Scorecard)