2015–2017 ICC Intercontinental Cup explained

2015–2017 ICC Intercontinental Cup
Fromdate:10 May 2015
Todate:2 December 2017
Administrator:International Cricket Council
Cricket Format:First-class cricket
Tournament Format:Round-robin
Host:Various (home and away)
Count:2
Participants:8
Matches:28
Most Runs: Babar Hayat (712)
Most Wickets: Ahmed Raza (32)
Previous Year:2011–2013

The 2015–2017 ICC Intercontinental Cup was the seventh edition of the ICC Intercontinental Cup, an international first-class cricket tournament between leading associate members of the International Cricket Council (ICC). The tournament took place during 2015 to 2017. It ran in parallel with the 2015–17 ICC World Cricket League Championship, but with slightly different teams. As Ireland and Afghanistan had qualified for the ICC One Day International Championship ranking qualification process, they were replaced by Kenya and Nepal in the limited over event; however they continued to play the four-day event.

As a result of changes to the structure of international cricket announced by the ICC in January 2014, the winner of the 2015-17 Intercontinental Cup (and following editions of the tournament) were originally scheduled to play four five-day matches against the bottom ranked Test nation (two home and two away matches), an event known as the 2018 ICC Test Challenge.[1] [2] [3] [4] Should the winner of the Intercontinental Cup go on to win the ICC Test Challenge, they would have become the 11th Test nation.[5]

However, in February 2017 following an ICC Board meeting, changes were agreed in principle to expand the number of Test nations to twelve. Both Afghanistan and Ireland were likely to be granted Test status before the proposed 2018 ICC Test Challenge.[6] [7] In June 2017, the ICC awarded both Afghanistan and Ireland Full Member status, making them eligible to play Test match cricket.[8] [9] As a result, the planned Test Challenge was scrapped.[10]

Afghanistan won the competition, after beating the United Arab Emirates by 10 wickets in their final game.[11] They finished with 121 points, with Ireland as runners-up on 109 points.[12] Rashid Khan, man of the match for Afghanistan in the final fixture, said that winning the Intercontinental Cup was "good preparation for Test cricket for us".[13]

Teams

The following are the 8 teams participating in the competition based on the results from 2011–13 ICC World Cricket League Championship, 2014 Cricket World Cup Qualifier and the 2015 ICC World Cricket League Division Two.

Preparations

Of the eight teams participating in the 2015–17 ICC Intercontinental Cup, only Papua New Guinea has never played a first-class match before.[14] Afghanistan, Ireland, Namibia, Scotland, The Netherlands and the UAE had all appeared before in the previous Intercontinental Cup of 2011–2013, while Hong Kong had last appeared in the 2005 Intercontinental Cup and last played in an international multi-day cricket tournament in late 2006 at the 2006/07 ACC Fast Track Countries Tournament.

Though never having played a first-class match, Papua New Guinea (PNG) have played two-day cricket in the South Australian Premier League in 2013 and 2014. Though finishing at the bottom of the league in both seasons, the experience seems to have hardened the team as they convincingly beat Hong Kong in a three-day match in Australia and one of PNG's openers admitted that participation in the league had been critical to exposing the players to multi-day cricket.[14]

Fixtures

The breakdown of fixtures is as follows:[15]

RoundWindowHome teamAway teamResult
1May – June 2015 by 114 runs
by an innings and 26 runs
Match drawn
by 5 wickets
2September – November 2015 by 44 runs
by an innings and 107 runs
by 276 runs
by 201 runs
3January – April 2016No result
by 4 wickets
by 145 runs
by an innings and 36 runs
4July – October 2016 by an innings and 36 runs
Match drawn
by 70 runs
by 199 runs
5February – June 2017Match drawn
by an innings and 172 runs
by 9 wickets
Match drawn
6August – October 2017Match drawn
by 34 runs
Match drawn
by an innings and 173 runs
7 Simultaneous RoundNovember – December 2017 by 10 wickets
by 203 runs
by an innings and 29 runs
by 231 runs

Points table

Team[16] width=20width=20width=20width=20width=20width=20width=20width=30width=50
17 6 0 0 1 0 5 121 2.187
27 5 1 0 1 0 6 109 1.369
37 3 2 0 2 0 4 72 0.958
47 2 3 0 1 1 3 59 0.915
57 2 4 0 1 0 2 47 0.816
67 0 2 0 4 1 2 46 0.840
77 2 4 0 1 0 1 43 0.806
87 1 5 0 1 0 1 27 0.672

Matches

Round 1

The fixtures for round one were announced on 5 May 2015.[17] ---- ---- ----

Round 2

The fixtures for round two were announced in August 2015.[18] ---- ----

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Round 3

The fixtures for round three were announced in December 2015.[19] ---- ---- ----

Round 4

The fixtures for round four were announced in April 2016.[20] [21]

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Round 5

The fixture between Afghanistan and Ireland was announced by Cricket Ireland in July 2016.[22] The fixture between Hong Kong and the Netherlands was announced by the Koninklijke Nederlandse Cricket Bond in December 2016.[23] Cricket Scotland confirmed the venue for their fixture in February 2017.[24]

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Round 6

---- ---- ----

Round 7

The ICC announced the dates and venues for the final round of fixtures on 23 October 2017.[25]

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See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Is the ICC Test Challenge really the Holy Grail?. All Out Cricket. 14 April 2014. Tim. Brooks. 14 April 2014.
  2. News: Associates to get a shot at Test cricket. ESPNcricinfo. 11 April 2014. 10 April 2014.
  3. News: What do the ICC proposals mean for the Associates?. ESPNcricinfo. 15 March 2014. Tim. Wigmore. 14 March 2014.
  4. News: An 11th Test country?. ESPNcricinfo. 31 January 2014. Nagraj. Gollapudi. 30 January 2014.
  5. Web site: Contenders ready to kick-start Intercontinental Cup 2015-17 . 31 May 2015 . International Cricket Council.
  6. Web site: In Principle Agreement to Constitutional and Financial Changes to ICC . 21 February 2017 . International Cricket Council.
  7. Web site: Radical schedule shake-up proposed at ICC meeting . 21 February 2017 . ESPN Cricinfo.
  8. Web site: Ireland and Afghanistan ICC newest full members amid wide-ranging governance reform . 22 June 2017 . International Cricket Council.
  9. Web site: Afghanistan, Ireland get Test status . 22 June 2017 . ESPN Cricinfo.
  10. Web site: 'I think this sets a terrific example' - Ireland CEO Deutrom . 22 June 2017 . ESPN Cricinfo.
  11. Web site: Rashid rips through UAE to seal second I-Cup title for Afghanistan . 2 December 2017 . ESPN Cricinfo.
  12. Web site: Afghanistan crowned Intercontinental Cup champs . 2 December 2017 . International Cricket Council.
  13. Web site: Winning was a good preparation for Test cricket - Rashid . 3 December 2017 . ESPN Cricinfo.
  14. http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/812971.html Meet Hanuabada's latest flagbearer - the rise of PNG's Lega Siaka by Tim Wigmore
  15. News: ICC World Cricket League and Intercontinental Cup Fixtures announced. 14 February 2015. International Cricket Council. 14 February 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150215053233/http://www.icc-cricket.com/news/2015/media-releases/85592/icc-world-cricket-league-and-intercontinental-cup-fixtures-announced. 15 February 2015. dead.
  16. Web site: Points table . 1 December 2017 . ESPN Cricinfo.
  17. Web site: Namibia, Hong Kong to kick off Intercontinental Cup . 6 May 2015 . ESPN Cricinfo.
  18. Web site: T20 Qualifier co-champs face off in I-Cup and WCL Championship . 19 August 2015 . ESPN Cricinfo.
  19. Web site: Ireland to meet PNG in third round . 14 December 2015 . ESPN Cricinfo.
  20. Web site: Scotland to host UAE in August . 14 April 2016 . ESPN Cricinfo.
  21. Web site: Fixtures for Round 4 of ICC I-Cup and ICC WCL Championship announced . 26 April 2016 . ESPN Cricinfo . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160429090333/http://www.icc-cricket.com/news/2016/news/94755/fixtures-for-round-4-of-icc-i-cup-and-icc-wcl-championship-announced . 29 April 2016 .
  22. Web site: Ireland And Afghanistan Confirm Nine Match Series . 25 July 2016 . Cricket Ireland.
  23. Web site: Nederland naar Dubai en Hong Kong . 11 December 2016 . Koninklijke Nederlandse Cricket Bond . nl . https://web.archive.org/web/20161220095939/http://kncb.nl/nederland-naar-dubai-en-hong-kong/ . 20 December 2016 . dead .
  24. Web site: Namibia Series - Dates and Venues Announced . 23 February 2017 . Cricket Scotland.
  25. Web site: Afghanistan leapfrog Ireland in ICC Intercontinental Cup with one round to go . International Cricket Council . 23 October 2017 . 23 October 2017.