ICC set to revive Global Qualifier for Associate teams

The ICC is contemplating starting global qualifiers - or rather reinstating the global qualification process for Associate members. This appears to have been one of the important decisions taken by ICC members who met in Ahmedabad on Saturday (May 30). The global qualifiers would be for future men's T20 World Cups.

The all-important ICC Board is expected to reconvene in the city on Sunday morning, ahead of the IPL final, and is expected to give its stamp of approval to the proposal. Whether the decision will need ratification at the ICC Annual Conference in Edinburgh in July is not known, but the global qualifiers for Associate members are expected to restart.

A key factor behind the ICC's push to reinstate the Global Qualifier is the growing audience interest in Associate cricket. While matches involving Associate nations once attracted viewership figures that were around eight times lower than those featuring Full Members, recent data indicates the gap has shrunk dramatically to about 1.5 times, excluding, of course, India matches.

The centralised qualifying tournament was in existence earlier but was discontinued after the 2019 edition in the UAE. The Netherlands had won that event, which identified the Associate teams for the 2020 T20 World Cup. The tournament was eventually staged one year later, in 2021, due to the pandemic.

Since 2019, Associate teams have been identified through five regional and sub-regional qualification pathways. For the most recent T20 World Cup, held in India and Sri Lanka, eight teams qualified through five regional qualifying tournaments. The Americas region was allotted one berth, with Canada securing qualification from that zone.

Europe and Africa were allotted two berths each, with the Netherlands, Italy, Zimbabwe and Namibia progressing from the regions respectively. Three places were up for grabs across the combined Asia and East Asia-Pacific pathway, from which Nepal, UAE and Oman earned qualifications.

Where and when the ICC will stage the Global Qualifier will become clear once the necessary approvals are secured. However, organising the tournament may not be without its challenges. Some of the regional qualification events for the 2028 T20 World Cup, to be hosted by Australia and New Zealand, have already commenced.

Meanwhile, Mirwais Ashraf of Afghanistan and Tamim Iqbal of Bangladesh will not be attending the meetings for different reasons. Richard Thompson of the ECB, who was initially expected to join online, is understood to have arrived in Ahmedabad. There is no representative from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in Ahmedabad, and its chairman, Mohsin Naqvi, is likely to participate in the Sunday's meeting virtually.

Tamim, who heads the interim committee of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), chose not to make the trip to India. He is contesting for the BCB top post the elections for which are on June 7. However, BCB CEO Nizam Uddin Chowdhury is believed to have arrived in Ahmedabad late on Saturday evening.

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