ICC escape for England

[flanflinger]

Thanks to the Kiwis out-playing Sri Lanka in the ODI series, Sri Lanka are now 7th, which means that they will have to pre-qualify for the ICC tournament rather than England.

Very good news as it saves us wasting time qualifying for this insignificant tournament.

[Seamer]

Yes, but perhaps England would have been better off with the practice. Playing Bangledesh before the ashes did'nt hurt them.

[Collyisamackem]

The tournament is not insignificant, there is just no room for an extra tournament without wearing out all of our cricketers (and Australia's, and whoever else is playing either side of it), which will happen with it being jammed in between other test and ODI series.

I thought that the first two ODIs between India and England counted for the rankings in terms of ICC Trophy pre-qualification?

[Trescothick]

Originally Posted by Seamer

Yes, but perhaps England would have been better off with the practice. Playing Bangledesh before the ashes did'nt hurt them.

Agreed, it would have been good practise, notch up some runs, give the players especially the batsmen some ODI confidence and we would be well away... But alas, no luck, we will qualify and go in perhaps under prepared... We really only need a few players to click together... Before Pietersen came, we were doing fairly well with Trescothick leading the way, now Pietersens entered, we havent got many good starts and we almost rely on him. It would be nice for Pietersen if we could get a nice start and he can free up his arms and play dangerously... Then England will be a force to be reckoned with!

[b1blancer]

Is it 100% certian now? Nice to see the place comfirmed if so, takes a little bit of pressure off there backs.

[Occasional Fan]

Originally Posted by Collyisamackem

I thought that the first two ODIs between India and England counted for the rankings in terms of ICC Trophy pre-qualification?

There was a lot of confused reporting on this during the Pakistan v England ODI series. I thought points were awarded based on the series result, and as the India series result won't be known until after the cut off date for ICCCT qualifying (1 April?), none of it can count. Some of the writers in the newspapers followed that line, some followed yours, Colly. I confess I haven't found out which is the truth - but if anyone knows, I'd be glad to hear! Also, England's loss in the Pakistan series cost them a guaranteed qualification for the ICCCT. As we have seen, performances of others (outside England's control) can still let England off the hook. Is the NZ v SL result enough to do that, or are England still waiting on other results to determine their fate?

[Collyisamackem]

I think that the NZ vs Sri Lanka series is the only one which can seriously harm England's chances of automatic qualification. Sri Lanka would definitely have to win the next (and last) ODI, but I am not sure whether or not that would keep them above England or not.

[Captain]

If you go to the ICC website, you can do possible outcomes of matches and see how many points a team can supposedly get and where they weill stand after a certain period.

[Occasional Fan]

I've never been able to get that to work all that well, but I did notice the following comment on that site:

Originally Posted by ICC Site

Each team's rating changes after every match, thus affecting the possible rating points that can be earned from subsequent matches.

That seems to answer the question I raised above, and suggests that some of England's games in India will be taken into consideration.

[Occasional Fan]

It also appears from this comment by Jonathan Agnew that England's qualification for the ICCCT is not yet assured.

Originally Posted by Jonathan Agnew on the BBC

Qualification for the ICC Champions Trophy is not yet guaranteed.

Agnew's full article here (dealing generally with selection for the India tour).