ICC Intercontinental Cup

Updated on Nov 16, 2023

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Format First-class cricket Most successful Ireland (4 titles) Current champion Ireland cricket team		First tournament 2004 Most runs Steve Tikolo (1,918)

Tournament format Round-robin and Knockout Number of teams Varies (Highest 14) (Recently 8) Administrator International Cricket Council

The ICC Intercontinental Cup is a cricket tournament organised by the International Cricket Council as part of its cricket development programme. It is designed to allow Associate Members of the ICC the chance to play first-class cricket matches against teams of similar skill in a competition environment and prepare them for eventual promotion to Test cricket status.

Icc intercontinental cup final day 2

2004 ICC Intercontinental Cup

The inaugural ICC Intercontinental Cup was completed on 22 November 2004 when Scotland won the title in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. Scotland beat Canada by an innings and 84 runs in the final. The competition included 12 teams, divided by geographical region into four groups of three. Each team played the other two teams in its group once each. The top team in each group then progresses to the semi-finals, and the winners of those to the final. In order to encourage competitive play and avoid deadlocks, a point system including bonus points was used.

2005 ICC Intercontinental Cup

The tournament was played for the second time in 2005.

Hong Kong came in to replace Malaysia, and the Cayman Islands replaced the United States who were ejected from the competition by the ICC because of then ongoing political problems within cricket in the US. The points system was also modified so that teams could score unlimited batting points in the first innings and a maximum of 4 points in the second innings.

The tournament was won by Ireland who defeated Kenya in the final.

2006–2007 ICC Intercontinental Cup

The tournament was cut from 12 to eight teams, with Hong Kong, the Cayman Islands and Uganda losing the right to participate, while Namibia knocked out Nepal in a play off for the eighth place. The match length was extended from three to four days, and each team was scheduled to play at least three matches. The teams were divided into two groups of four, with each team playing the other once and the top two teams qualifying for the final, and the points system has also been changed: 14 points are now awarded for a win, and six for a first-innings lead. Due to preparations for the 2007 World Cup and the longer tournament, the final was played in May 2007, where Ireland defeated Canada to defend their title.

2007–2008 ICC Intercontinental Cup

The 2007–08 tournament was played as a single round-robin league of eight teams, so that each team played seven matches. The teams ranked first and second at the end of the pool stage contested the final.

Namibia finished on top at the pool stage, but lost the final against second placed Ireland in late October in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Ireland thus completed a hat-trick of Intercontinental Cup victories, having been undefeated in the competition, and having won three consecutive make-or-break away fixtures in Africa (against Namibia, Kenya and Namibia again) to clinch the title.

2009–10 ICC Intercontinental Cup

The 2009–10 tournament was expanded to two divisions and 11 teams. Ireland, the Netherlands, Scotland, Canada, Kenya, and Afghanistan played in the top division, joined by Zimbabwe A. Meanwhile, United Arab Emirates, Namibia, Bermuda and Uganda played in the Intercontinental Shield. Afghanistan won their first title, beating Scotland in the final.

2011–13 ICC Intercontinental Cup

In December 2010, the ICC announced that the 2011–13 tournament would revert to the 8 team, single division format of the 2007–08 season and that the Intercontinental Shield would be scrapped. The sixth staging of the Cup ran from June 2011 to October 2013. and included the top six associate and affiliate teams with One Day International status (ICC World Cricket League Division 1); Afghanistan, Canada, Ireland, Kenya, Netherlands and Scotland. The remaining two places were allotted to UAE and Namibia who finished in the top two of the ICC Intercontinental Shield and ICC World Cricket League Division 2. Later the ICC Development Committee decided to select the 3rd and 4th placed teams from the ICC World Cricket League Division 2 (Bermuda and Uganda) and two qualifiers to proceed from WCL Division 3 (Hong Kong and Papua New Guinea) bringing the total to 12 teams. A 50-over tournament was run alongside the re-expanded Intercontinental Cup.

The final of the 2011-13 competition was held in December 2013 between Ireland and Afghanistan, with Ireland winning their 4th Intercontinental Cup title.

2015–17 ICC Intercontinental Cup

In the wake of changes announced by ICC following its revamp in January 2014 when India Australia and England Cricket Boards gained more control it was declared that the next winner of the Intercontinental Cup would get an opportunity to play 4 tests (2 home and 2 away) against the bottom ranked test nation and if the associate nation wins that series they would then gain Test status until the next Intercontinental Cup.

Team records

Overall Record

Teams' performances

An overview of the teams' performances in every Intercontinental Cup:

All time table

The 2006 challenge match between Namibia and Nepal, the abandoned match between Scotland and Kenya in 2008 as well as the forfeited match between Zimbabwe and Scotland in 2010 are not included. Complete up to the 2013 final.

Key: TP/TW=Tournaments participated/won, M=Matches played, W/L/D=wins/losses/draws, Win%=percentage of games won, a draw counts as half of a win.

Intercontinental Shield Record

In 2009 a second competition, the Intercontinental Shield, was introduced for the four teams placing 7th through 10th in the 2009 World Cup Qualifier. The matches are also first-class and the rules and points system are the same as for the Intercontinental Cup. The current teams in the Intercontinental Shield are Bermuda, Namibia, Uganda and United Arab Emirates. In December 2010 after the end of the Intercontinental Shield the ICC announced that it would be scrapping the Shield competition and returning to the 8 team Intercontinental Cup format of the 2007–08 season.

Complete up to the 2010 final between the UAE and Namibia.

Key: TP/TW=Tournaments participated/won, M=Matches played, W/L/D=wins/losses/draws, Win%=percentage of games won, a draw counts as half of a win.