Cricket World Cup League 2: UAE to host Scotland and USA for tri-series in Sharjah and Dubai

Seven-team league part of new competition structure to qualify for 2023 World Cup, which will be played in India

Rameez Shahzad, left, and his UAE teammates will prepare to host Scotland and the United States this year. Chris Whiteoak / The National

The UAE will play their first fixtures in the new Cricket World Cup League 2 when they host Scotland and United States for a tri-series in Sharjah and Dubai in December.

The new seven-team competition also involves Namibia, Nepal, Oman and Papua New Guinea.

Each team is scheduled to play 36 one-day internationals over two and half years from August 2019 to January 2022.

All 126 matches will be played in the form of triangular series, starting when Scotland host PNG and Oman in Aberdeen in August.

Each series will see teams play a total of six ODIs. The top three sides in the League 2 table will confirm their place in the World Cup Qualifier 2022.

The bottom four teams will drop into the World Cup Qualifier Play-Off 2022, which is a repechage event to the global Qualifier.

After they host Scotland and USA in Sharjah and Dubai at the end of this year, the national team will travel to Oman the following month, to play their Gulf neighbours, and Namibia.

A series in America, also involving Scotland, is planned for March, while the UAE will also travel to Port Moresby to play PNG and Nepal in June 2020.

“It is hugely exciting to see the first dates in the schedule for ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2,” Will Glenwright, the ICC’s general manager for development, said.

“One-hundred and twenty-six ODIs over two and half years, and three places in the Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier gives teams so much to play for, through a schedule that provides teams with much more international cricket in fixed windows to allow for better preparation and planning.

“The new structure, which has been developed in close consultation with the Members, will present some outstanding cricket and, most importantly, will ensure that the Associate Members that qualify for the Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier are even better prepared to stake their claim for a place at India 2023.”