Teams three steps away from India 2023 begin their campaign
There are two Challenge Leagues A and B, each comprising six teams that will play 15 matches each over two and half years. Canada, Denmark, Malaysia, Singapore, Qatar and Vanuatu form group A, whilst group B consists of Bermuda, Hong Kong, Italy, Jersey, Kenya and Uganda.
Malaysia will host the first Men’s CWC Challenge League A between 16 and 26 September with each team playing five matches across 11 days.
Teams will compete in Challenge League A and B once a year respectively in 2019, 2020 and 2021. The league will see a total of 90 competitive 50 over List A matches for teams ranked 21-32. The top team in each league at the culmination of the competition will secure two of the six places in the Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier Play-Off to be held in 2022, alongside the bottom four of Men’s CWC League 2.
Malaysia captain, Ahmad Faiz said: “We are excited to host the first leg of the CWC Challenge League A. The team has trained hard for this tournament. We are definitely looking forward to playing against the contending teams and strive towards as many wins as possible.”
Denmark captain, Hamid Shah said: “I am very much looking forward to the new event structure, it gives us the opportunity to compete against some very strong teams over three tournaments.
“A lot of cricket is ahead of us and the guys are very excited about to play in the first Challenge League in Malaysia. We have had some success in Malaysia before, so hopefully we can continue from where we left.”
Vanuatu captain, Andrew Mansale said: “As our team matures I am really looking forward to us playing better cricket. This is the highest level the Vanuatu has attained and we will continue to get better. I have faith in my players and our management. Myself and our new coach are expecting some really good performances from everyone in the team.”
ICC Head of Events, Chris Tetley speaks ahead of the first Challenge League. “The introduction of the new four-year qualification structure to the Men’s Cricket World Cup has provided international cricket with a clear and simple pathway to the pinnacle event. Challenge League and League 2 teams will be playing more organized and competitive cricket thanks to the new structures.
“Looking ahead to the first Challenge League we are delighted to be working the Malaysian Cricket Association again and seeing fantastic venues play host to ICC events.”
The first Men’s Cricket World Cup Challenge League B event is scheduled to take place between 25 November and 9 December and will be hosted by Hong Kong.
The Challenge Leagues will run concurrently with the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2 and the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League which has a start date of May 2020.
The match schedule, six squads and match officials for the first ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Challenge A, being held in Kuala Lumpur from16 -26 September 2019 are as follows:
Match Schedule
16 September: Denmark v Malaysia (Kinrara Oval)
17 September: Singapore v Qatar (Kinrara Oval); Canada v Vanuatu (Selangor Turf Club)
18 September: Rest day
19 September: Canada v Malaysia (Kinrara Oval); Singapore v Denmark (Selangor Turf Club)
20 September: Denmark v Vanuatu (Kinrara Oval); Malaysia v Qatar (Selangor Turf Club)
21 September: Rest day
22 September: Canada v Qatar (Kinrara Oval); Singapore v Vanuatu (Selangor Turf Club)
23 September: Singapore v Malaysia (Kinrara Oval); Denmark v Qatar (Selangor Turf Club)
24 September: Rest day
25 September: Canada v Denmark (Kinrara Oval); Malaysia v Vanuatu (Selangor Turf Club)
26 September: Vanuatu v Qatar (Kinrara Oval); Canada v Singapore (Selangor Turf Club)
All matches start at 10:00am local time.
Squads
Canada - Navneet Dhaliwal (captain); Abraash Khan; Cecil Pervez; Dilon Heyliger; Hamza Tariq; Harsh Thaker; Nikhil Dutta; Nitish Kumar; Ravinderpal Singh; Rodrigo Thomas; Romesh Galkandage Don; Saad Zafar; Shahid Ahmadzai; Srimantha Wijeyeratne
Denmark – Hamid Shah (captain); Rizwan Mahmood; Monty Singh; Oliver Hald; Anique Uddin; Zameeer Khan; Jino Jojo; Nicolaj Damgaard; Lucky Malik; Zishan Shah; Jonas Henriksen; Delawar Khan; Abdul Wahab; Frederik Klokker
Malaysia– Ahmad Faiz Mohammad Noor (captain); Muhamad Syahadat Ramli; Abdul Rashid Ahad; Mohd Nazril Abdul Rahman; Mohd Suharril Fetri Shuib; Mohd Shafiq Mohd Sharif; Muhammad Anwar Abdul Rahman; Mohamad Norwira Zazmie Abdul Halim; Pavandeep Singh Jagjit Singh; Syed Aziz Syed Mubarak; Muhammad Hafiz Khair; Virandeep Singh Jagjit Singh; Aminuddin Ramly; Dhivendran Mogan
**Qatar –**Kamran Khan; Saqlain Arshad; Muhammad Awais Malik; Zaheeruddeen Ibrahim; Iqbal Hussain Chaudhry; Qalandar Khan; Muhammad Nadeem; Dharmang Hasmukh Patel; Mohammad Rizlan; Gayan Buddika; Musawar Shah; Syed Yousuf Tameem; Owais Ahmed; Khurram Shahzad
Singapore– Amjad Mahboob (captain); Aahan Gopianth Achar; Rezza Gaznavi; Anantha Krisha; Aryaman Uchil; Manpreet Singh; Vinoth Baskaran; Rohan Rangarajan; Sidhant Singh; Navin Param; Arjun Mutreja; Timothy Hays David; Surendan Chandramohan; Avi Dixit
Vanuatu– Andrew Mansale (captain); Patrick Matautaava; Jamal Vira; Jelany Chilia; Apo Stephen; Nalin Nipiko; Kalo Shem; Williamsing Nalisa; Josh Rasu; Wesly Viraliliu; Clement Tommy; Ronald Tari; Shane Deitz; Simpson Obed
Match officials
Match Referee - Mohammad Anees
Umpires: Akbar Ali Khan (UAE); Sarika Prasad (Singapore); Vinod Babu (Oman); Durga Nath Subedi (Nepal); Kalidas Viswanadan (Malaysia); Buddhi Pradhan (Nepal)
For scores and standings of ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Challenge A please click here.