Kenya relegated to World Cup Challenge League

Battered Kenya cricket team will not cool its heels in the newly introduced ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League.

This is after the team finished fourth in World Cricket League Division Three that ended Monday in Oman, where the hosts won all their matches to win the championship and qualify for World Cricket League Division Two alongside United States of America.

On Sunday, Denmark ended Kenya’s hopes of qualifying to Division Two when they shocked the 2003 World Cup semi-finals by a nine wickets defeat, as Oman completed a clean run, beating Uganda by 10 wickets.

On Monday, United States would seal their place in Division Two with a five wickets victory against a battling Singapore.

Oman topped with 10 points while USA, who won four matches, losing one, got to settle second with eight points.

Singapore and Kenya, who finished third and fourth respectively with four points each after winning two matches and losing three, will now play in the new ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League.

They will be joined by Denmark and Uganda, who got two points each for one win and four losses each.

The 2019–21 ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League is scheduled to be the inaugural edition of the ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League, a cricket tournament which forms part of the qualification pathway to the 2023 Cricket World Cup.

The Cricket World Cup Challenge League will be split into two groups, A and B, with the top team in each group advancing to a play-off tournament, also taking place in 2022, which feeds into the 2022 Cricket World Cup Qualifier tournament.

The Cricket World Cup Challenge League replaces the World Cricket League (WCL), which was previously used as the pathway to the Cricket World Cup.

The league will feature the 12 teams ranked from 21st to 32nd place in the WCL following the conclusion of the ICC World Cricket League Division Two tournament due April 18–28 next year in Namibia.

The tournament will have newly promoted Oman and USA joining Namibia, Papua New Guinea, Hong Kong and Canada.

The 12 teams will then be split into two groups, with each group playing in a six-team tournament on an annual basis starting August 2019.

Kenya’s fortunes have been diminishing over the years as the country dropped from World Cricket League to Division Two and later Division Three, hence losing its One Day International Status in the process.