ODI League Under New ICC FTP Will Serve as a Qualification Pathway for 2023 World Cup

As per the new Future Tour Programme (FTP) of ICC, the ODI League will begin in May 2020. It will be a 13-team affair. The governing body of cricket revealed the next cycle would have an ODI League and a Test Championship. It was announced on 20^th June, Wednesday.

The competition to get tough

The ODI tournament will be the pathway for qualification for the 2023 World Cup. The competition will include 12 Test playing nations and the Netherlands. They had got the ODI status after winning the ICC World Cricket League last year.

Each team will take part in eight series over a period of a couple of years. The opponents will be mutually agreed on a home and away series basis. The league as per the new FTP will end on March 31, 2022.

It will include seven higher ranked teams barring India. They will automatically qualify as to be the hosts. The five other teams will fight it out to be eligible for the tournament through ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier.

The ODI League along with the ICC World Test Championship is slated to begin from July 2019. Following this new FTP, it will increase the number of matches for lower-ranked teams like Ireland, Afghanistan and Netherlands.

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Irish Chief Executive speaks, 

“From the moment we were granted Full Membership of the ICC, two of the key priorities for Cricket Ireland were to play our first Test match and to negotiate a comprehensive fixture schedule as part of the FTP,” said Warren Deutrom, the Cricket Ireland Chief Executive.

“We have now delivered both, and we believe the players and Irish cricket fans will be excited by the enticing programme ahead.

“We are looking at a minimum of 135 men’s matches across the three formats from 2018-2023, both home and away. This does not include any additional bilateral matches we will play against Associate Member sides, qualifying tournament matches for various ICC tournaments or other bilateral content against those Full Members where a playing window is yet to be finalised. All up, this is a vastly increased workload for players, coaches and administrators, but for the fans, it is a feast of regular world-class cricket to enjoy.”

Also Read: ICC Releases New FTP; Includes Test Championship and ODI League