World Cricket League

The initial league began in 2007 with seven tournaments over five global divisions, based upon previous world rankings.[3][4] This was expanded into eight separate divisions for the 2009–14 edition. In the first cycle, the number of teams in each tournament varied from six to twelve. With the advent of the second cycle, the number of teams was regularised to six for each tournament, with the exception of the lowest division, Division 8, in which eight teams played. As from 2015, the number of divisions was again reduced to just five.

When most of the divisions are played, two teams will be promoted, two relegated and two remain for the next instalment (normally two years later). At the end of each cycle, a World Cup Qualifier is played. In 2018, this featured the four lowest teams of those holding ‘Full’ (senior) status, together with six ’Associate’ nations – namely the four who were still in Division One, plus the top two from Division Two. The two last-placed teams in that World Cup Qualifier lost their ODI status and were relegated into Division Two.

Regional tournaments, which act as qualifiers for the lowest division of the World League, are administered by the five development regions of the International Cricket Council: Africa, Americas, Asia, East Asia-Pacific, and Europe.[5][3]

In late 2005, the International Cricket Council ranked the top non-Test nations from 11–30 to complement the Test nations' rankings in the ICC ODI Championship. The ICC used the results from the 2005 ICC Trophy and WCQS Division 2 competition (i.e. the primary qualification mechanisms for the 2007 Cricket World Cup) to rank the nations.

These rankings were used to seed the initial stage of the global World Cricket League. Teams ranked 11–16 were placed into Division 1; teams 17–20 were placed into Division 2; teams 21–24 were placed into Division 3; the remaining teams were placed into the upper divisions of their respective regional qualifiers.

In 2005, six associates were assigned One Day International status, based on their performance at the preceding World Cup Qualifier. In 2017, Afghanistan and Ireland were both promoted to "Full" (test-match) status, leaving only four associate nations with ODI-status: after mid-March 2018 these were Scotland, Netherlands, UAE, and Nepal. Netherlands, as winners of the 2015–17 ICC World Cricket League Championship, have qualified for a place in the 2020–22 ICC Cricket World Cup Super League. In May 2009, the ICC added a rankings table for the associate and affiliate members containing both global and regional placings. In 2016 this changed to maintain a global list only for the top teams and a set of regional lists for the remaining teams.

Rankings

The global rankings of associate teams according to ICC are published in the table below.[6][7] Teams that have One Day International status are now included on the main ICC ODI Championship and are listed in the order they appear on that table. The other teams are ranked by their finishing position in the most recent qualifying tournament in associate nations add 4 ODI status teams after in associate nations ODI ranking after wcl2 in Namibia.

The rankings after 2018 WCL3 are:[6]

Division[lower-alpha 1]	Rank	Nation	Region	Regional Rank
ODI Status	13	Scotland	Europe	1
	14	Nepal	Asia	1
	15	United Arab Emirates	Asia	2
	16	Netherlands	Europe	2
	17	Namibia	Africa	1
	18	Oman	Asia	3
	19	Papua New Guinea	EAP	1
	20	United States	Americas	1
Division 2	21	Canada	Americas	2
	22	Hong Kong	Asia	4
Division 3	23	Singapore	Asia	5
	24	Kenya	Africa	2
	25	Denmark	Europe	3
	26	Uganda	Africa	3
Division 4	27	Malaysia	Asia	6
	28	Jersey	Europe	4
	29	Vanuatu	EAP	2
	30	Bermuda	Americas	3
Division 5	31	Qatar	Asia	7
	32	Italy	Europe	5
	33	Germany	Europe	6
	34	Guernsey	Europe	7
	35	Ghana	Africa	4
	36	Cayman Islands	Americas	4

1. Division means the league the team is either currently competing in or will next compete in

Regional rankings

Teams that do not participate in (or have been relegated from) the World Cricket League are ranked by their finishing positions in their respective regional leagues:

Africa Rank Country 5  Botswana 6  Tanzania 7  Nigeria 8  Zambia 9  Sierra Leone N/A  Seychelles  Mozambique  Swaziland  Rwanda  Gambia  Lesotho  Malawi  Saint Helena  Morocco  Cameroon  Mali

Americas Rank Country 5  Argentina N/A  Suriname  Bahamas  Panama  Belize  Turks and Caicos Islands  Brazil  Peru  Chile  Mexico  Costa Rica  Falkland Islands

Asia Rank Country 8  Saudi Arabia 9  Bahrain 10  Kuwait 11  Thailand 12  Bhutan 13  China N/A  Maldives  Iran  Myanmar  Tajikistan **  Cambodia **  Chinese Taipei **

East-Asia Pacific Rank Country 3  Fiji 4  Samoa 5  Philippines 6  Indonesia 7  Japan N/A  Cook Islands  South Korea  Tonga

Europe Rank Country 8  Sweden 9  Norway 10  Austria 11  Belgium 12  France 13  Spain 14  Israel 15  Isle of Man 16  Gibraltar N/A  Bulgaria  Croatia  Cyprus  Czech Republic  Estonia  Finland  Greece  Hungary  Luxembourg  Malta  Portugal  Romania  Russia  Serbia  Slovenia  Turkey

** Not member of ICC, but member of Asian Cricket Council.

• ICC Intercontinental Cup – the equivalent first class competition
• ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier – a competition between associate and affiliate teams for entry into the Twenty20 World Cup

• ICC World Cricket League