ICC Intercontinental Cup
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The ICC Intercontinental Cup is a cricket tournament organised by the International Cricket Council as part of its cricket development program. It is designed to allow Associate Members of the ICC the chance to play first-class cricket matches against teams of similar skill in a competition environment and prepare them for eventual promotion to Test cricket status. The ICC have announced that over the next two years the tournament will change, shrinking in size to eight teams who each play every other team, and the matches will also last four days instead of the three days that were played in 2005. There are also hopes to introduce a second division in the future.
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Tournament history
2004
See also: 2004 ICC Intercontinental Cup
The inaugural ICC Intercontinental Cup was completed on 22 November 2004 when Scotland won the title in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. Scotland beat Canada by an innings and 84 runs in the final.
The competition included 12 teams, divided by geographical region into four groups of three:
Africa:
Americas:
Asia:
Europe:
Each team plays the other two teams in its group once each. The top team in each group then progresses to the semi-finals, and the winners of those to the final.
In order to encourage competitive play and avoid deadlocks, a point system including bonus points was used:
- Win: 14 points
- Tie: 7 points
- Draw or loss: 0 points
- Batting bonus points: 0.5 points for each 25 runs scored in the first 90 overs of each innings, to a maximum of 6 points per innings.
- Bowling bonus points: 0.5 points per wicket taken in each innings.
Canada, Scotland, United Arab Emirates and Kenya qualified for the semi-finals in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
2005
See also: 2005 ICC Intercontinental Cup
The tournament was played for the second time in 2005. The teams and groupings were the same, except that Hong Kong came in to replace Malaysia, and the Cayman Islands replaced USA following an internal power struggle. The points system was also modified so that teams could score unlimited batting points in the first innings and a maximum of 4 points in the second innings.
2006
See also: 2006 ICC Intercontinental Cup
The tournament was cut from 12 to eight teams, with Hong Kong, the Cayman Islands and Uganda losing the right to participate, while Namibia knocked out Nepal in a play off for the eighth place. The match length have been extended from three to four days, and each team is scheduled to play at least three matches. The teams are divided into two groups of four, with each team playing the other once and the top two teams qualifying for the final, and the points system has also been changed: 14 points are now awarded for a win, and six for a first-innings lead. Matches are scheduled between March 2006 and February 2007.
2007–08
The ICC have announced plans to organise the 2007–08 tournament as a single round robin league, so that each team gets seven matches.