Ten teams will battle it out in the Cricket World Cup 2023 qualifiers as they fight for the coveted two spots to qualify for the mega-event, scheduled to be held in India later this year. The qualifiers, which are set to take place in Zimbabwe, will feature former champions, Sri Lanka, and two-time World Cup winners, West Indies, along with eight other nations.
Eight top sides including Pakistan, Australia, England, South Africa, New Zealand, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and host nation, India have already secured their place in the mega-event.
The stakes couldn’t be higher, as the teams look to book their ticket to the Cricket World Cup 2023. Here is everything you need to know about the World Cup qualifiers.
The bottom five teams from the World Cup Super League 2020–23, the top three teams from the World Cup League 2 2019–23, and the top two teams from the World Cup Qualifier Play-off 2023 will take part in the first round of the tournament.
In the first round, these 10 teams will be divided into 2 groups of five teams each. The top three teams in each group will qualify for the next round, Super Sixes.
In the Super Sixes, each team will play against each other once and the top two teams at the end of the round will qualify for the Cricket World Cup 2023. The top two teams will also play the final to determine the winner of the World Cup Qualifier tournament.
The tournament, which commences on 18 June, will take place in Zimbabwe. The matches will take place at four venues in two cities, Harare Sports Club, Takashinga Cricket Club in Harare, Bulawayo Athletic Club and Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo.
19 fixtures will be played at Harare Sports Club, including the final, while 15 matches will take place in Bulawayo.
Both venues were also used in the ICC World Cup Qualifiers 2018 which was won by Afghanistan as they defeated West Indies in the final of the tournament. Both teams ensured their qualification in the Cricket World Cup 2019.
Ten teams taking part in the competition have been divided into two groups of five teams each, Group A and Group B.
The host nation, Zimbabwe, along with West Indies, Nepal, Netherlands, and the United States of America have been drawn together in Group A. Sri Lanka alongside Ireland, Oman, United Arab Emirates, and Scotland are in Group B.
The Group A fixtures will be played in Harare, while Group B matches will be played in Bulawayo.
Zimbabwe, West Indies, Sri Lanka, Ireland, and Netherlands qualified for the tournament after finishing in the bottom five of the World Cup Super League 2020–23. Nepal, Oman, and Scotland finished in the top three of the World Cup League 2 2019–23, while USA and UAE finished as the top two in the World Cup Qualifier Play-off 2023.
| Group A | Group B |
| Zimbabwe | Sri Lanka |
| West Indies | Ireland |
| Nepal | Oman |
| Netherlands | Scotland |
| USA | UAE |
Here are the complete squads of all participating teams:
Zimbabwe
| Craig Ervine (c) | Ryan Burl | Tendai Chatara | Bradley Evans | Joylord Gumbie |
| Luke Jongwe | Innocent Kaia | Clive Madande | Wessly Madhevere | Tadiwanashe Marumani |
| Wellington Masakadza | Blessing Muzarabani | Richard Ngarava | Sikandar Raza | Sean Williams |
Sri Lanka
| Dasun Shanaka (c) | Kusal Mendis | Dimuth Karunaratne | Pathum Nissanka | Charith Asalanka |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | Sadeera Samarawickarama | Wanindu Hasaranga | Chamika Karunaratne | Dushmantha Chameera |
| Kasun Rajitha | Lahiru Kumara | Maheesh Theekshana | Matheesha Pathirana | Dushan Hemantha |
West Indies
| Shai Hope (c) | Rovman Powell | Shamarh Brooks | Yannic Cariah | Kecy Carty |
| Johnson Charles | Roston Chase | Jason Holder | Akeal Hosein | Alzarri Joseph |
| Brandon King | Kyle Mayers | Keemo Paul | Nicholas Pooran | Romario Shepherd |
Ireland
| Andrew Balbirnie (c) | Mark Adair | Curtis Campher | Gareth Delany | George Dockrell |
| Graham Hume | Josh Little | Andy McBrine | Bary McCarthy | PJ Moor |
| Paul Stirling | Harry Tector | Lorcan Tucker | Ben White | Craig Young |
Netherlands
| Scott Edwards (c) | Max O’Dowd | Logan van Beek | Vikram Singh | Aryan Dutt |
| Viv Kingma | Bas de Leede | Noah Croes | Ryan Klein | Teja Nidamanuru |
| Wesley Barresi | Shariz Ahmad | Clayton Floyd | Michael Levitt | Saqib Zulfiqar |
Nepal
| Rohit Paudel (c) | Kushal Bhurtel | Aasif Sheikh | Gyanendra Malla |
| Aarif Sheikh | Dipendra Singh Airee | Gulsan Jha | Sompal Kami |
| Sandeep Lamichhane | Bhim Sharki | Lalit Rajbanshi | Pratish JC |
| Kushal Malla | Karan KC | Arjun Saud | Kishor Mahato |
Oman
| Zeeshan Maqsood (c) | Aqib Ilyas | Jatinder Singh | Kashyap Prajapati | Shoaib Khan | Mohammad Nadeem |
| Sandeep Goud | Ayaan Khan | Suraj Kumar | Adeel Shafique | Naseem Khushi | Bilal Khan |
| Kaleemullah | Fayyaz Butt | Jay Odedra | Samay Shrivastav | Rafiullah | |
Scotland
| Richie Berrington (c) | Matthew Cross | Alasdair Evans | Chris Greaves | Jack Jarvis |
| Michael Leask | Tom Mackintosh | Chris McBride | Brandon McMullen | George Munsey |
| Adrian Neill | Safyaan Sharif | Chris Sole | Hamza Tahir | Mark Watt |
UAE
| Mohammad Waseem (c) | Ethan D’Souza | Ali Naseer | Vriitya Aravind | Rameez Shahzad |
| Jawadullah | Asif Khan | Rohan Mustafa | Aayan Khan | Junaid Siddique |
| Zahoor Khan | Sanchit Sharma | Aryansh Sharma | Karthik Meiyappan | Basil Hameed |
USA
| Monank Patel (c) | Aaron Jones | Abhishek Paradkar | Ali Khan | Gajanand Singh |
| Jasdeep Singh | Kyle Philip | Nisarg Patel | Nostush Kenjige | Saiteja Mukkamalla |
| Saurabh Netravalkar | Shayan Jahangir | Steven Taylor | Sushant Modani | Usman Rafiq |
Here’s the complete schedule for ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 Qualifiers:
| Date | Match | Venue |
| 18 June | Zimbabwe vs Nepal | Harare (HSC) |
| West Indies vs USA | Harare (TAK) | |
| 19 June | Sri Lanka vs UAE | Bulawayo (QSC) |
| Ireland vs Oman | Bulawayo (BAC) | |
| 20 June | Zimbabwe vs Netherlands | Harare (HSC) |
| Nepal vs USA | Harare (TAK) | |
| 21 June | Ireland vs Scotland | Bulawayo (QSC) |
| Oman vs UAE | Bulawayo (BAC) | |
| 22 June | West Indies vs Nepal | Harare (HSC) |
| Netherlands vs USA | Harare (TAK) | |
| 23 June | Sri Lanka vs Oman | Bulawayo (QSC) |
| Scotland vs UAE | Bulawayo (BAC) | |
| 24 June | Zimbabwe vs West Indies | Harare (HSC) |
| Netherlands vs Nepal | Harare (TAK) | |
| 25 June | Sri Lanka vs Ireland | Bulawayo (QSC) |
| Scotland vs Oman | Bulawayo (BAC) | |
| 26 June | Zimbabwe vs USA | Harare (HSC) |
| West Indies vs Netherlands | Harare (TAK) | |
| 27 June | Sri Lanka vs Scotland | Bulawayo (QSC) |
| Ireland vs UAE | Bulawayo (BAC) | |
| SUPER SIX, PLAY-OFF & FINAL | ||
| 29 June | A2 vs B2 | Bulawayo (QSC) |
| 30 June | A3 vs B1 | Bulawayo (QSC) |
| A5 vs B4 (Playoff) | Harare (TAK) | |
| 01 July | A1 vs B3 | Harare (HSC) |
| 02 July | A2 vs B1 | Bulawayo (QSC) |
| A4 vs B5 (Playoff) | Harare (TAK) | |
| 03 July | A3 vs B2 | Harare (HSC) |
| 04 July | A2 vs B3 | Bulawayo (QSC) |
| 7th vs 8th (Playoff) | Harare (TAK) | |
| 05 July | A1 vs B2 | Harare (HSC) |
| 06 July | A3 vs B3 | Bulawayo (QSC) |
| 9th vs 10th (Playoff) | Harare (TAK) | |
| 07 July | A1 vs B1 | Harare (HSC) |
| 09 July | FINAL | Harare (HSC) |
*Play-offs to determine the positions in the tournament