With a little over six weeks to go before the T20 World Cup Qualifier gets underway in the United Arab Emirates, the ICC confirmed the schedule and draw for the 14-team tournament, which will run from October 18th to November 2nd in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, reports Cricbuzz.
The tournament will see the 14 countries, comprising hosts UAE along with Scotland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Hong Kong and Oman - who were awarded byes to the qualifier by dint of reaching the 2016 WT20, together with Jersey, Papua New Guinea, Namibia, Kenya , Singapore, Canada and Bermuda - who progressed through regional qualifying.
Zimbabwe's ongoing suspension from the ICC saw them removed from the tournament, to be replaced by Nigeria as the third African Qualifier. The top six countries at the tournament will qualify for the 2020 T20 World Cup in Australia, where they will join Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in the "First Round" of the tournament, from which the top four sides will qualify for the main phase of the tournament.
The 14 countries at the qualifier will be split into two groups of seven, the seeding based on T20I rankings at the end of August.
