The Cricket World Cup Qualifier (previously called the ICC Trophy and officially known as the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Qualifier) is a One-Day International (ODI) cricket tournament that serves as the culmination of the qualification process for the Cricket World Cup. It is usually played in the year before the World Cup. Although the tournament has used a variety of different formats, a final qualification event has been a feature of every World Cup since 1979.
From 1979 to 2001, all associate members of the International Cricket Council (ICC) were eligible to participate in the ICC Trophy. Regional qualification was introduced for the 2005 ICC Trophy – the final tournament to bear that name – with the World Cricket League (WCL) introduced in 2007. Until 2015, automatic qualification was granted to all full members of the ICC. However, for the 2019 Cricket World Cup, only the top eight teams in the ICC ODI Championship were given automatic qualification, meaning ICC full members played in the Qualifier for the first time. The WCL was discontinued in 2019, with qualification for the World Cup Qualifier instead determined by a series of leagues including the Super League, League 2 and Challenge League.[2]
The number of qualifying berths available from the World Cup Qualifier currently stands at two for the 2023 event, but has varied from a minimum of one (1982, 1986, 1990) to a maximum of five (2005). Zimbabwe is the most successful team, having won three consecutive titles between 1982 and 1990, while Scotland and Sri Lanka are the only other teams to have won multiple titles. Historically performance at the World Cup Qualifier has been a key determinant for elevation to full membership of the ICC and Test status, with Sri Lanka (1981), Zimbabwe (1992) and Bangladesh (2000) being awarded full membership after ICC Trophy wins.
In September 2018, the ICC confirmed that all matches in the ICC World Cup Qualifier will have ODI status, regardless if a team does not have ODI status prior to the start of an individual tournament event.[3][4]
No play-off for third place was held at the 1979 and 1990 tournaments – teams defeated in the semi-finals are deemed to have shared third place and are indicated with an asterisk (*).
Teams' performances
Legend
Teams that qualified for the World Cup due to their performance in a particular edition are underlined.
AQ – Team received automatic qualification to the World Cup, so did not participate in the Qualifier
1st – Champions
2nd – Runners-up
3rd – Third place
SF – Losing semi-finalist (no third-place play-off)
R1, R2 – First round, second round (no further play-offs)
PO – Team lost in an inter-round play-off (2001 only; ranked 9th–10th)
