The ICC World Cricket League Championship was the top division of the World Cricket League (WCL). It formed the qualification process for the Cricket World Cup.
The WCL Championship was originally known as World Cricket League Division One, and was played twice under that name (in 2007 and 2010). Those were hosted as standalone tournaments, but a new format was subsequently introduced in which competing teams play multiple games against each other over several years (mirroring the Intercontinental Cup, a first-class competition). All matches in the WCL Championship hold List A status, while matches between higher-ranking teams hold One Day International (ODI) status.
History
The first WCL Division One tournament in 2007 featured the top six teams from the 2005 ICC Trophy, while the 2010 tournament featured the top six teams from the 2009 World Cup Qualifier. Two teams from WCL Division Two were added for the 2011–13 WCL Championship, making eight teams in total. The top two teams from the 2011–13 competition (Ireland and Afghanistan) gained automatic qualification for the 2015 World Cup. They were subsequently promoted to the ICC ODI Championship, although the 2015–17 WCL Championship remained an eight-team competition as two additional teams were promoted from Division Two.
Results EditionHostFinalVenueWinnerResultRunner-up 2007 Nairobi 158/2 (37.5 overs) Kenya won by 8 wicketsscorecard 155 (47 overs) 2010 Amsterdam 233/4 (44.5 overs) Ireland won by 6 wicketsscorecard 232 (48.5 overs) 2011–13 no single host no final 24 points Ireland won on pointspoints table 19 points 2015–17 no single host no final 22 points Netherlands won on points points table 19 points
Performance by team Legend – Champions – Runners-up – Third place Q – Qualified
Team 2007 2010 2011–13 2015–17 Total — 3rd 2nd ODI 2 6th — — — 1 4th 5th 8th — 3 — — — 3rd 1 5th 1st 1st ODI 3 1st 6th 6th 5th 4 — — 7th 8th 2 — — — 7th 1 3rd 4th 4th 1st 4 — — — 4th 1 2nd 2nd 5th 2nd 4 — — 3rd 6th 2
Player statistics Edition Most runs Most wickets MVP Ref 2007 Ashish Bagai (345) Peter Ongondo (15) Ashish Bagai 2010 Tom Cooper (408) Alex Cusack (10) Tom Cooper 2011–13 Shaiman Anwar (625) Christi Viljoen (23) 2015–17 Anshuman Rath (678) Nadeem Ahmed (24)
See also ICC Six Nations Challenge, a similar tournament predating the World Cricket League
References