World Cup Qualifying Tournament, South Africa 2009

Twelve teams will take part in the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier in South Africa and all will dream of securing one of four places for Asia in 2011.

The qualifying event, which runs from 1 to 19 April, will feature the current six ODI sides, along with six other teams who have qualified from the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League qualifying structure.

The 12 sides have been separated into two groups and the top four from each group will progress to a Super Eight stage.

The Super Eight stage will complete a full round-robin of those eight teams by each team playing all four teams from the other group (with points from all preliminary round results versus teams from own group that also progressed to the Super Eight being carried forward).

Ranking play-offs will determine final placings at the event, from first to 12th position, with the teams taking part in the 1v2, 3v4, 5v6 and 7v8 matches determined by the Super Eight standings.

There will also be cross-over matches and ranking play-offs for the bottom two sides in Group A and B, to determine who finishes in ninth to 12th position.

As well as deciding who will play in the ICC Cricket World Cup, there are plenty of other prizes on offer for the competing sides.

• The top six teams will qualify for ODI match status (whenever playing each other or Full Members) until 2013, with the first-to-sixth place matches at the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier carrying ODI status.
• These teams will also make up the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 1 in 2001 and qualify automatically for the ICC Intercontinental Cup, the first-class four-day competition, which runs in 2009-10.
• The top 10 teams will qualify for the Gatorade ICC High Performance Programme grant funding in 2009 and 2010, in line with the new ICC developing cricket world funding policy, while the teams who finish 11th and 12th will be placed in the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 3 in 2010 from which two teams will progress to Division 2 in the same year (joining the teams who finished seventh to 10th in the CWC Qualifier).