Twenty20 World Cup Qualifier 2008

At stake, apart from the pride of being the top Associate team in this form of the game, will be a place in the ICC World Twenty20 2009 being staged in England. Both finalists from this event, and possibly the third-placed team, will qualify for the big one which will take place at Lord's, the Oval and Trent Bridge next June.

The WT20 Qualifier involves two groups of three teams playing a total of eleven matches over four days. Ireland, Scotland and Bermuda make up Group A while Kenya, the Netherlands and Canada will fight it out for supremacy of Group B.

This is the first tournament of its kind in Associate cricket and some of the participating teams have not played Twenty20 Internationals before so there is no Twenty20 ranking system for these teams. For this reason, the seedings were decided on the basis of how the teams stood in the ICC ODI rankings, the cut-off date being 2 February, six months before the start of the tournament.

As such, with Ireland placed 10th on the Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Championship table it is the top-ranked Associate ODI side in the world and the number-one seed for this event. Kenya is seeded second followed by Scotland, Netherlands, Canada and Bermuda in that order.

Groupings (seedings in brackets based on ODI rankings as at 2 February 2008)

• Group A: Ireland (1), Scotland (3), Bermuda (6)
• Group B: Kenya (2), Netherlands (4), Canada (5)

• India
• Bangladesh
• Zimbabwe/Associate 1 (Associate 1 will take this place providing Zimbabwe steps down)*

• Pakistan
• England
• Associate 1/Associate 2 (Associate 2 will take this place providing Zimbabwe steps down and Associate 1 moves to Group A)*

• Australia
• Sri Lanka
• West Indies

• New Zealand
• South Africa
• Associate 2/Associate 3 (Associate 3 will take this place providing Zimbabwe steps down and Associate 2 moves to Group B)*

The ICC WT20 2009 takes place in the UK between 5 and 21 June 2009 and is made up of men's and women's tournaments running alongside each other.

For details of fixtures and tickets as well as all the latest news on the ICC WT20 2009 please visit the official website.