ICC World Twenty20

The ICC World Twenty20 or ICC World T20 also referred to as the T20 World Cup is the international championship of Twenty20 cricket. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC). The tournament consists of 12 teams in which all the ten ICC Full Members are automatically qualified and the remaining two spots will be contested through ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier. The event is held every two years.

The inaugural event, the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, was staged in South Africa from 11–24 September 2007. The tournament was won by India, who became the first World T20 Champions after defeating Pakistan by 5 runs in the final at Johannesburg. The second event, the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 took place in England from 5–21 June 2009. This tournament was won by the previous runners-up Pakistan who defeated Sri Lanka by 8 wickets in the final at Lord's, London.[1] The third tournament, the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 was held from 30 April–16 May 2010 and hosted by the West Indies. The winners were England who defeated Australia by 7 wickets in the final at Kensington Oval, Barbados. This was the first ever ICC tournament won by England.

Format


Rules and regulations

During the group stage and Super Eight, points are awarded to the teams as follows:


Results Points
Win 2 points
No result 1 point
Loss 0 points
In case of a Tie (i.e. both teams score exactly the same number of runs at the end of their respective innings), a Super Over would decide the winner. In case of a Tie again in the Super Over, the match is won by the team that has scored the most 6s in their innings. This is applicable in all stages of the tournament. But this provision came in existence from 2009. During the 2007 ICC World Twenty20 tournament, the provision for deciding the winner in case of a Tie was a Bowl-out.[2]
Within each group (both group stage & Super Eight stage), teams are ranked against each other based on the following criteria:[3]

1. Higher number of points
2. If equal, higher number of wins
3. If still equal, higher net run rate
4. If still equal, lower bowling strike rate
5. If still equal, result of head to head meeting.

Qualification
All Test-playing nations achieve automatic qualification to the tournament, with the remaining places filled by ICC associate member nations through a qualification tournament.

Qualification for the 2007 World Twenty20 came from the results of the first cycle of the ICC World Cricket League - a 50-over format league for non-Test playing nations. The two finalists of the Division One tournament - Kenya and Scotland - qualified for the inaugural World Twenty20 tournament alongside the Test-playing nations. Qualification for subsequent tournaments, beginning with the 2009 event, is achieved through a special event using the twenty20 format.

A World Twenty20 Qualifier was held in 2008 as qualifier for the 2009 World Twenty20 and currently is the main qualification tournament for all the upcoming World Twenty20's tournaments. The 2008 Qualifiers were played between 2 August and 5 August 2008 in Stormont, Belfast in Northern Ireland. The six competing teams were: Bermuda, Canada, Ireland, Kenya, The Netherlands and Scotland, with the top three earning a place at the 2009 World Twenty20 in England. The competition was won by Ireland and the Netherlands, who shared the trophy after rain forced the final to be abandoned without a ball bowled. Both teams qualified for the 2009 finals in England. Due to the withdrawal of Zimbabwe from the competition, the two finalists were joined by third-placed Scotland.

The 2010 Qualifier was the largest so far, with eight competing teams. It was played in the United Arab Emirates from 9–13 February 2010 with the top two teams progressing to the 2010 tournament in the Caribbean. The eight competing teams were: Afghanistan, Canada, Ireland, Kenya, the Netherlands, Scotland, UAE and the USA.[4] The competition was won by Afghanistan who qualified along with Ireland who were second.