The ICC Intercontinental Cup was a first-class cricket tournament organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC) as part of its cricket development programme. It was designed to allow Associate Members of the ICC the chance to play first-class cricket matches over four days against teams of similar skill in a competition environment and prepare them for eventual promotion to Test cricket status. First run in 2004, two of the most successful teams in the history of the tournament, Ireland and Afghanistan were promoted to Full Member and Test status, in 2017.
In October 2018, the ICC issued a media release asking for an expression of interest from teams which had competed in previous editions of the tournament. However, since no further news regarding a new edition have emerged since then, the future of the tournament appeared uncertain. In April 2021, the ICC looked at the possibility of multi-day matches between Associate Members with One Day International (ODI) status, and Test teams that were not part of the ICC World Test Championship.
Tournament history
2004 ICC Intercontinental Cup
The inaugural ICC Intercontinental Cup was completed on 22 November 2004 when Scotland won the title in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. Scotland beat Canada by an innings and 84 runs in the final. The competition included 12 teams, divided by geographical region into four groups of three. Each team played the other two teams in its group once each. The top team in each group then progresses to the semi-finals, and the winners of those to the final. In order to encourage competitive play and avoid deadlocks, a point system including bonus points was used.
2005 ICC Intercontinental Cup
Hong Kong came in to replace Malaysia, and the Cayman Islands replaced the United States who were ejected from the competition by the ICC because of then ongoing political problems within cricket in the US. The points system was also modified so that teams could score unlimited batting points in the first innings and a maximum of 4 points in the second innings.
The tournament was won by Ireland who defeated Kenya in the final.
2006–2007 ICC Intercontinental Cup
The tournament was cut from 12 to eight teams, with Hong Kong, the Cayman Islands and Uganda losing the right to participate, while Namibia knocked out Nepal in a play off for the eighth place. The match length was extended from three to four days, and each team was scheduled to play at least three matches. The teams were divided into two groups of four, with each team playing the other once and the top two teams qualifying for the final, and the points system has also been changed: 14 points are now awarded for a win, and six for a first-innings lead. Due to preparations for the 2007 World Cup and the longer tournament, the final was played in May 2007, where Ireland defeated Canada to defend their title.
2007–2008 ICC Intercontinental Cup
The 2007–08 tournament was played as a single round-robin league of eight teams, so that each team played seven matches. The teams ranked first and second at the end of the pool stage contested the final.
Namibia topped the pool stage but faced a defeat in the final against Ireland in late October in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Ireland secured their third consecutive Intercontinental Cup victory by remaining unbeaten throughout the competition. They sealed the title by winning three successive crucial away matches in Africa, defeating Namibia twice and Kenya in between.
2009–10 ICC Intercontinental Cup
The 2009–10 tournament was expanded to two divisions and 11 teams. Ireland, the Netherlands, Scotland, Canada, Kenya, and Afghanistan played in the top division, joined by Zimbabwe A. Meanwhile, United Arab Emirates, Namibia, Bermuda and Uganda played in the Intercontinental Shield. Afghanistan won their first title, beating Scotland in the final.
2011–13 ICC Intercontinental Cup
In December 2010, the ICC announced that the 2011–13 tournament would revert to the 8 team, single division format of the 2007–08 season and that the Intercontinental Shield would be scrapped. The sixth staging of the Cup ran from June 2011 to October 2013. and included the top six associate and affiliate teams with One Day International status (ICC World Cricket League Division 1); Afghanistan, Canada, Ireland, Kenya, Netherlands and Scotland. The remaining two places were allotted to UAE and Namibia who finished in the top two of the ICC Intercontinental Shield and ICC World Cricket League Division 2. Later the ICC Development Committee decided to select the 3rd and 4th placed teams from the ICC World Cricket League Division 2 (Bermuda and Uganda) and two qualifiers to proceed from WCL Division 3 (Hong Kong and Papua New Guinea) bringing the total to 12 teams. A 50-over tournament was run alongside the re-expanded Intercontinental Cup.
The final of the 2011-13 competition was held in December 2013 between Ireland and Afghanistan, with Ireland winning their 4th Intercontinental Cup title.
2015–17 ICC Intercontinental Cup
In the wake of changes announced by ICC following its revamp in January 2014 when India, Australia and England Cricket Boards gained more control it was declared that the next winner of the Intercontinental Cup would get an opportunity to play 4 tests (2 home and 2 away) against the bottom ranked test nation and if the associate nation wins that series they would then gain Test status until the next Intercontinental Cup. However, with Ireland and Afghanistan gaining test status in June 2017 the Test challenge was not held. Ireland, Afghanistan, Scotland, United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, PNG, The Netherlands and Namibia qualified based on the results from 2011–13 ICC World Cricket League Championship, 2014 Cricket World Cup Qualifier and the 2015 ICC World Cricket League Division Two. It ran in parallel with the 2015–17 ICC World Cricket League Championship but with slightly different teams. As Ireland and Afghanistan had qualified for the ICC One-Day International Championship ranking qualification process, they were replaced by Kenya and Nepal in the limited over event; however they continued to play the four-day event. Afghanistan won the tournament after defeating UAE during the final round.
Team records
Overall Record
YearWinnerRunner-up 2004 2005 2006–07 2007–08 2009–10 2011–13 2015–17TBD
Teams' performances An overview of the teams' performances in every Intercontinental Cup: Team200420052006–072007–082009–102011–132015–17AfricaSFRUGS3rd5th7thDNCGSGSGSRU8th5th8thGSGSDNCDNC10thDNCDNC XIDNCDNCDNCDNC3rdDNCDNCAmericasGSSFGS8th11thDNCDNCRUGSRU7th7th6thDNCDNCGSDNCDNCDNCDNCDNCGSDNCDNCDNCDNCDNCDNCAsiaDNCDNCDNCDNCWRUWDNCGSDNCDNCDNCDNC4thGSDNCDNCDNCDNCDNCDNCGSGSPODNCDNCDNCDNCSFSFGS6th9th4th5thEast Asia - PacificDNCDNCDNCDNCDNCDNC7thEuropeGSWWW4thWRUGSGSGS5th6th8th3rdWGSGS4thRU3rd6th
All time table
The abandoned match between Scotland and Kenya in 2008, the forfeited match between Zimbabwe and Scotland in 2010 and the abandoned match between Hong Kong and Scotland in 2016 are not included. Complete up to the end of 2017.
TeamTPTWMWLDWin%74392531164.1%71331181433.3%7 337161021.2%6 341514544.1%6 28912732.1%6 349141126.5%6 29618520.7%4 15311416.7%3222171477.3%2 520340.0%2 724128.6%2 824225.0%1 530260.0%1 211050.0%1 724128.6%1 20200.0%1 20200.0%
Key: TP/TW=Tournaments participated/won, M=Matches played, W/L/D=wins/losses/draws, Win%=percentage of games won.
Intercontinental Shield Record
YearWinnerRunner-up 2009–10
In 2009 a second competition, the Intercontinental Shield, was introduced for the four teams placing 7th through 10th in the 2009 World Cup Qualifier. The matches are also first-class and the rules and points system are the same as for the Intercontinental Cup. The current teams in the Intercontinental Shield are Bermuda, Namibia, Uganda and United Arab Emirates. In December 2010 after the end of the Intercontinental Shield the ICC announced that it would be scrapping the Shield competition and returning to the 8 team Intercontinental Cup format of the 2007–08 season.
Complete up to the 2010 final between the UAE and Namibia. TeamTPTWMWLDWin%114310 75.0%1 4211 62.5%1 311150.0%1 30300.0%
Key: TP/TW=Tournaments participated/won, M=Matches played, W/L/D=wins/losses/draws, Win%=percentage of games won, a draw counts as half of a win.
Records and statistics
Team records Highest totals Team Total Opponent Year 630/7 2012 620 2006 609 2010 590 2010 589/7 2013 Source: ESPNcricinfo. Last updated 3 June 2015.
Lowest totals Team Total Opponent Year 56 2010 69 2008 75 2012 76 2005 79 2008 2010 Source: ESPNcricinfo. Last updated 3 June 2015.
Largest winning margins (by Innings) Team Margin Opponent Year innings and 228 runs 2007 innings and 185 runs 2010 innings and 173 runs 2017 innings and 172 runs 2017 innings and 170 runs 2007 Source: ESPNcricinfo. Last updated 3 June 2015.
Largest winning margins (by Runs) Team Margin Opponent Year 279 runs 2013 276 runs 2015 266 runs 2011 247 runs 2009 231 runs 2017 Source: ESPNcricinfo. Last updated 3 June 2015.
Largest winning margins (by Wickets) Team Margin Opponent Year 10 wickets 2010 2013 20179 wickets 2011 2006 2008 2007 2004 2010 2013 2017 Source: ESPNcricinfo. Last updated 22 March 2018.
Individual records Most runs Player Team Span Mat Inns Runs Avg Highest 100s 50s Steve Tikolo 2004–2010 19 32 1,918 63.93 220 6 7 Arshad Ali 2004–2013 24 46 1,756 39.90 185 4 9 William Porterfield 2006–2017 24 39 1,743 47.10 186 5 8 Khurram Khan 2004–2015 24 43 1,730 43.25 121* 4 10 Saqib Ali 2006–2015 18 34 1,620 54.00 195 6 6 Source: ESPNcricinfo. Last updated 27 October 2015.
Highest scores Player Score Team Opponent Year Ryan ten Doeschate 259* 2006 David Hemp 247* 2006 Ed Joyce 231 2015 Gerrie Snyman 230 2008 Steve Tikolo 220 2005 Source: ESPNcricinfo. Last updated 3 June 2015.
Highest partnerships No. Runs Players For Against Year 1st 374 Raymond van Schoor & Ewald Steenkamp 2010 2nd 326 William Porterfield & Ed Joyce 2015 3rd 360 Eoin Morgan & Andre Botha 2007 4th 267 Steve Tikolo & Hitesh Modi 2005 5th 214* Kevin O'Brien & Andrew White 2008 6th 288* Ben Cooper & Pieter Seelaar 2017 7th 219 David Hemp & Saleem Mukuddem 2006 8th 161 Vusi Sibanda & Regis Chakabva 2009 9th 180 Sunil Dhaniram & Kevin Sandher 2007 10th 71 Khurram Chohan & Hiral Patel 2010 Source: ESPNcricinfo. Last updated 22 March 2018.
Most wickets Player Team Span Mat Overs Wkts Avg Best 5 10 Trent Johnston 2004–2013 25 577.1 91 16.35 6/23 3 0 Umar Bhatti 2004–2010 18 491.0 78 20.56 8/40 7 2 Hiren Varaiya 2006–2013 18 566.4 77 21.66 6/22 7 2 Louis Klazinga 2006–2013 18 491.4 74 21.14 5/20 3 0 Dwayne Leverock 2004–2008 15 685.5 71 26.47 7/57 6 2 Source: ESPNcricinfo. Last updated 3 June 2015.
Best bowling figures Player Figures Team Opponent Year Ali Asad 9/74 2004 John Davison 9/76 2004 Ian van Zyl 8/34 2006 Umar Bhatti 8/40 2005 John Davison 8/61 2004 Source: ESPNcricinfo. Last updated 3 June 2015.
References
External links ICC Official site