Canada faces a long road to qualify for the 2027 Cricket World Cup in South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
Having won its way into the ICC Cricket World Cup League 2, the Canadian men are one of eight teams that will each play 36 one-day internationals spread across nine triangular series through December 2026.
This week, the 19th-ranked Canadians host No. 16 Nepal and No. 17 Oman in King City, Ont., in their third their tri-series, which that runs Monday through Sept. 26.
They are bidding to make the expanded 14-team World Cup field that will feature two of the three co-hosts, South Africa and Zimbabwe, plus eight of the other 10 top-ranked teams in the ICC's one-day international rankings.
Canada is looking to secure one of the four remaining berths in the field via the World League, which offers two qualifying pathways.
The Canadian men (4-4-0) currently sit third in the standings behind the 14th-ranked Netherlands (6-2-0) and No. 11 Scotland (4-2-0 with on no-result). Oman (1-2-0 with one no-result) is sixth and Nepal (1-3-0) seventh, both having played fewer matches.
The top four teams go through to a World Cup qualifier, a 10-country event made up of the two bottom-ranked full members in the ODI rankings (other than South Africa and/or Zimbabwe plus the top four teams from a World Cup Qualifier Playoff.
The World Cup Qualifier Playoff features the bottom four World League 2 teams and four teams from the third-tier Challenge League. The top four advance to the World Cup qualifier.
The top four teams in the qualifier advance to the World Cup.
Canada has not taken part in the 50-over World Cup since 2011, failing to qualify for the last three editions. The Canadian men Also played in the 1979, 2003 and 2007 tournament, failing to get past the group stage in all four tournament appearances.
The Canadian men qualified for the ICC T20 World Cup for the first time this summer, recording a historic win over Ireland but failing to advance out of the group stage of the 20-over tournament co-hosted by the U.S. and West Indies.
---
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 15, 2024
Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press