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The Ireland National Cricket Team’s hopes of reaching the ICC ODI World Cup 2027 through direct qualification have suffered a huge blow after their first ODI against Afghanistan at Bready was abandoned because of rain without even a toss on August 5.
This washout ended Ireland’s chances of getting a direct place in the 2027 ICC World Cup. Now, they will have to go through a tough qualification tournament to make it to the mega event next year. Amid this, 2027 ODI World Cup Qualifier dates confirmed, ICC yet to decide venues.
Ireland's ICC ODI World Cup 2027 dream suffers massive blow
Ireland entered the five-match ODI series against Afghanistan at home with only one possible route to direct qualification. They needed to beat Afghanistan 5-0 and also hoped that West Indies would lose both of their ODI matches against India before the ICC rankings cut-off on September 30.
But the rain at Bready shattered their hopes completely. Since the first ODI was washed out without a ball being bowled, Ireland’s hopes of whitewashing Afghanistan ended.
And that means the Irish side have lost their only chance of collecting enough ranking points to move above Afghanistan, Zimbabwe and West Indies in the ICC ODI rankings.
Ireland are currently ranked 12th in the ICC ODI team rankings, which could not earn them automatic qualification for the 2027 ODI World Cup in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia.
Ireland face must-win World Cup Qualifier challenge
As a result, Ireland will now have to play in the 10-team ICC World Cup Qualifier later this year. They have to finish first in the 10-team ICC World Cup Qualifier to get direct entry into the main 12-team event. Amid this, ECB unhappy with Ireland's Afghanistan ODI series, future England ties in doubt.
The teams finishing second, third and fourth will still remain alive, but their road to the mega event will become much tougher. Those three teams will move into the first stage of the World Cup, called the Super Series. From there, only one team will qualify for the main tournament.
The World Cup qualifier will include 10 teams. Two of those teams will be the lowest-ranked full member nations in the ODI rankings, apart from hosts South Africa and Zimbabwe, after the September 30, 2026, ranking cut-off.
How the 2027 World Cup Qualifier will work
The other eight teams will come through different qualification events. Four teams will qualify from the Cricket World Cup League 2, while another four teams will come through the World Cup Qualifier Playoff. The qualifier playoff itself will have eight teams.
It will include the bottom four teams from League 2 and four teams from the Challenge League. The Challenge League will feature 12 teams divided into two groups of six. Each group will play three round-robin tournaments during the qualification cycle.
The top two teams from both groups will reach the Qualifier Playoff, and from there the top four teams will book their place in the World Cup Qualifier.
So, this was the biggest setback for Ireland, as they also failed to qualify for the 2023 ODI World Cup after being knocked out in the Super Six stage of the Qualifier. Now, they once again face a challenging journey to the 2027 ODI World Cup.
