Chronicle Editor
Brandon Moyo
IRELAND has missed out on direct qualification for the upcoming 2023 International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup and are set to participate in the qualifiers which will be hosted in Zimbabwe in June and July.
The Qualifiers are scheduled to take place from June 18 to July 9 2023 in venues across Bulawayo and Harare.
Zimbabwe hosted the previous qualifiers to the 2019 edition in England and was awarded the opportunity of hosting again this year.
Ireland’s hopes of directly booking their ticket to India in October went up in smoke after their first One Day International (ODI) match against Bangladesh in Chelmsford, England was washed out thus giving South Africa a last-minute World Cup ticket.
Ireland needed to whitewash Bangladesh in a three-match ODI series in order to have any hopes of directly qualifying and avoid playing in Zimbabwe.
After the no-result in the first match on Tuesday, even if Ireland (now on 73 points) go on to claim the series, they cannot surpass South Africa (on 98 points) in eighth place on the Super League points table. They are now guaranteed a ninth-place finish and will compete in the ten-team qualifying tournament in Zimbabwe.
Playing at ‘home’ away from home, the series was moved from Ireland due to better weather in England than in Ireland, leading to a better chance of full matches being played and producing results, a decision that has proved costly.
Persistent rain saw the match being abandoned with the hosts on 65/3 in 16,3 overs while chasing a target of 247 runs. After the rain stopped, the ground was deemed too wet to be fixed up for even a 20-over game, which could have seen the match produce a result.
The Chevrons missed out on qualifying for the 2019 edition of the World Cup in 2019 for the first time and will be hoping to make things right this time around on home soil once again.
Counting down to the tournament, which is 38 days away, excitement has already started building up with the hosts promising to stage yet another, world-class, memorable event. Stadium preparations have begun in the host cities.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe is set to receive an annual earning of US$17,64 million in the ICC proposed finance model for the 2024-2027 cycle. India is set to receive the biggest chunk with an annual earning of US$231 million.
10-teams to play in the Qualifiers:
West Indies, Ireland, Nepal, Scotland, United States of America (USA), United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman, Netherlands, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. – @brandon_malvin
Online Reporter