The International Cricket Council on Wednesday released pools and draw for the ICC Cricket World Cup qualifying tournament, to be held in New Zealand early next year.
Ten teams will play for the remaining two places in the World Cup which will be hosted by New Zealand and Australia from February 14 to March 15, 2015.
The UAE finished third in the 50-over 2011-13 World Cricket League Championship which concluded in October to earn their place in the qualifiers. They finished with nine wins and five losses, giving them 18 points from 14 matches. They fell one point short of automatic qualification behind Afghanistan and six points behind winners Ireland. UAE’s Shaiman Anwar led the entire tournament with 625 runs in 14 innings and Khurram Khan took 19 wickets, fifth-most among bowlers.
The top three teams in each pool will qualify for the Super Six play-offs with the top two teams from that tournament entering the World Cup. The third and fourth placed teams from the play-offs will gain ODI status for four years.
Pool A: United Arab Emirates (UAE), Scotland, Canada, Hong Kong, Nepal.
Pool B: The Netherlands, Kenya, Namibia, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Uganda.
Qualifying draw:
Jan 13, 2014
The Netherlands v Uganda at Tauranga.
Kenya v PNG at New Plymouth.
UAE v Nepal at Christchurch.
Scotland v Hong Kong at Queenstown.
Jan 15
The Netherlands v Namibia at Mount Maunganui.
UAE v Canada, Christchurch.
Jan 16
PNG v Uganda at New Plymouth.
Scotland v Nepal at Queenstown.
Jan 17
Namibia v Kenya at Tauranga.
Canada v Hong Kong, Christchurch.
Jan 19
Kenya v Uganda at Tauranga.
PNG v The Netherlands at New Plymouth.
Hong Kong v Nepal at Christchurch.
UAE v Scotland at Queenstown.
Jan 21
Namibia v Uganda at Tauranga.
Canada v Nepal at Christchurch.
Jan 23
PNG v Namibia at Tauranga.
Scotland v Canada at Christchurch.
The Netherlands v Kenya. Christchurch.
UAE v Hong Kong, Queenstown.
Jan 26, 28, 30
Super Six play-offs.
Feb 1
Final
