2019–21_ICC_Cricket_World_Cup_Challenge_League
2019–2022 ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League
International cricket tournament
The 2019–2022 ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League was the inaugural edition of the ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League and a cricket tournament which formed part of the 2023 Cricket World Cup Qualification process.[1][2] The Challenge League replaced the World Cricket League (WCL) which was previously used as the pathway to the Cricket World Cup.[3] The first fixtures took place in September 2019, with all matches having List A status.[4]
The league featured the twelve teams ranked from 21st to 32nd place in the WCL following the conclusion of the 2019 ICC World Cricket League Division Two tournament in Namibia.[3] The twelve teams were split into two groups, with each group playing a six-team tournament three times on an annual basis.[3]
The top team in each group advanced to the Qualifier Play-off, which fed into the 2022 Cricket World Cup Qualifier tournament.[1] The remaining ten teams could not qualify for the 2023 World Cup.[5]
In addition, either of the top teams in the Challenge League could qualify for promotion to the next edition of the Cricket World Cup League 2 by outperforming the two last-placed teams in the 2019–22 ICC Cricket World Cup League 2. Whichever two of these four teams were ranked higher in the Qualifier Play-off played in the next League 2 while the two teams ranked lower played in the next Challenge League.[6]
In an attempt to remain in the Challenge League for the next edition, the bottom four teams in this League (two from each section, A and B) would play in a relegation play-off tournament - facing teams hoping to come up from below.