The Women's Cricket World Cup Qualifier, formerly the IWCC Trophy, is a cricket tournament that serves as a qualifying tournament for the Women's Cricket World Cup. It has been played once so far, in 2003, the second tournament was to take place in Lahore, Pakistan in November 2007 but was postponed due to the state of emergency in Pakistan. In January 2008 the International Cricket Council moved the tournament to Stellenbosch in South Africa.
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The 2003 tournament was known as the IWCC Trophy and was played in the Netherlands in July. The participating teams were Ireland, Japan, Pakistan, Scotland and the West Indies in addition to hosts the Netherlands.[1] All matches were official Women's ODIs[2] and Japan's match against Pakistan was their first such game.[3]
Ireland won the tournament, winning all five of their games. The West Indies won four of their games, finishing second, joining Ireland in the 2005 Women's World Cup. Japan lost all five of their games and were rather uncompetitive, usually losing by substantial margins.[1] They conceded a remarkable 104 runs in extras in their match against the Netherlands,[4] eventually losing by 301 runs, the fifth largest winning margin in Women's ODIs.[5]
The 2007 tournament was due to be played in Lahore, Pakistan in November 2007 but was postponed owing to the state of emergency in Pakistan, and subsequently shifted to South Africa, where was played in February 2008. The eight participating teams were divided into two groups. Group A featured South Africa, Bermuda, Papua New Guinea, Netherlands and Group B featured Ireland, Pakistan, Zimbabwe and Scotland.
Unlike in 2003, four teams had to qualify for the tournament. Ireland and South Africa qualified automatically as they played in the previous World Cup, the Netherlands and Scotland qualified automatically as the only remaining European teams.[9]
The African leg of qualifying was a four team round-robin tournament played in Nairobi, Kenya in December 2006. Participating teams were Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe won all three of their games and qualified for the main tournament.[9]
The Americas leg of qualifying was a three match series between Bermuda and Canada, played at Beacon Hill Park in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada in September 2006. Canada won the first match, but Bermuda came back to win the remaining two and thus qualify for the main tournament.[9]
The Asian leg of qualifying was a three match series between Pakistan and Hong Kong, played in Lahore, Pakistan in September 2006. Pakistan won all three matches, two by over 200 runs, thus qualifying for the main tournament.[9]
The East-Asia/Pacific leg of qualifying was a three match series between Japan and Papua New Guinea, played in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea in September 2006. Papua New Guinea won all three matches, thus qualifying for the main tournament.[9]
Whilst Ireland, the Netherlands and Scotland are all already in the main tournament, all three teams will play against an England Development XI in the Women's European Championship in 2007, with the final group of the Netherlands and Scotland dependent on their position in this tournament.[9]
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