This is what Oman and the UAE will be playing for in Ireland in July, when they compete for the 2005 ICC Trophy and a chance to play in the 2007 World Cup. The top five teams out of the twelve competing will qualify for the World Cup.

Oman and the UAE’s opponents in Ireland will be Bermuda, Canada, Denmark, Holland, Ireland, Namibia, Papua New Guinea, Scotland, Uganda and the USA.

The ICC Trophy has always been an immensely competitive event and as Malcolm Speed, the ICC Chief Executive, reminded us at the official launch of the Trophy on the 10th of March, "Three previous winners of the ICC Trophy (Sri Lanka, 1979; Zimbabwe, 1982; Bangladesh, 1997) have gone on to claim Test match status while the other two, the current holders Holland and United Arab Emirates (winners in 1994), will be amongst the contenders in Ireland.”

Mr. Speed highlighted Oman in his launch speeches, citing how they, as one of the newest cricketing nations, could become the first ever ICC Affiliate Member to qualify for the World Cup.

The 2005 ICC Trophy will be the most competitive yet, and will ask more of its participants than ever before. Fitness will be a key factor with teams having to play five games in seven days in the preliminaries prior to the semi-final and Final.

It’s been an intensive workout for the teams on their way to Ireland, with qualification for this stage starting soon after the last World Cup. At the time, Bob Woolmer, then the ICC High Performance Manager called this process a “pathway for children to play against their heroes”.

The ACC is sure that young cricketers reading this article today will be playing in World Cups of the future.

Preliminary Phase

Group A	Group B
Ireland	Holland
Denmark	Scotland
UAE	Namibia
Uganda	Oman
USA	Canada
Bermuda	PNG

Semi-Finals & Finals (Dublin)

Filed 11th March 2005