Bermuda out as Kuwait, Italy, Bahrain, and Tanzania stay in hunt for 2027 Cricket World Cup

Kuwait, thanks to full points in the Super Sixes stage, qualified for the ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League, along with Italy, Bahrain and Tanzania after the last round of matches of the ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League Play-off in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Sunday (March 3).

Bermuda, who participated in the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup, and Vanuatu, failed to qualify.

While Kuwait, who were already through before the last day of matches, defeated Tanzania by 151 runs, Tanzania went through as the fourth team. Bahrain, who too had qualified before the match-day, defeated Bermuda by 30 runs under the Duckworth-Lewis method. The Bermudans who finished the Super Sixes stage without a win, couldn’t chase the revised target of 162 in 25 overs.

In the third match of the day, the Italians defeated Vanuatu by a slender margin of two wickets. A loss here would have resulted in their ouster from the competition due to Vanuatu up on head-to-head.  

“It's a massive victory for us,” Italy captain-cum-coach Berg was quoted as saying by ICC after the thrilling game at YSD-UKM Cricket Oval in Bangi, which is 31 kilometres from Kuala Lumpur.

“I am proud of our boys. We’ve stuck at it throughout the last three weeks. There's been no injuries, no incidents on the field. I am very excited about the squad that we have at the moment and there are boys still sitting at home, part of the high-performance group.

“We’ve got a great bunch of guys that we've looked after in terms of fitness, and that's another box tick for us, which is what we came to this tournament to do.”

The matches had List A status. 

Kuwait, Tanzania, Bahrain and Italy will enter the Challenge League for the 2027 World Cup cycle, with the 12-team competition split into two groups of six.

According to an ICC statement, “The top two of each Challenge League group will move to the Cricket World Cup Qualifier Play-off 2026, joining the bottom four teams at the end of League 2.”

Jersey, Papua New Guinea, Denmark, Hong Kong, Kenya, Qatar, Singapore and Uganda are the other eight teams besides Bahrain, Italy, Kuwait, and Tanzania to make it to the Challenge League for the 2027 World Cup cycle.

Meanwhile, the 2023-2027 ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 is going on with Namibia, Canada, Netherlands and Scotland leading the points table in the eight-team competition and primed to move directly into 2026 Cricket World Cup Qualifier. Bear in mind, Oman and USA are yet to play matches.  

Cricket, World Cup, ODI, List A, Italy, Bahrain, Kuwait, Tanzania