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Brandon Moyo, [email protected]

THE countdown to the start of the eagerly awaited Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifiers is gaining momentum with only 19 days left.

The global showpiece will be staged in Zimbabwe from 18 June to 9 July and matches will be played in four venues across Bulawayo and Harare.

The crunch World Cup Qualifiers will be used to determine the two remaining spots to the World Cup later this year in India. A total of 10 teams will battle it out for the two remaining spots and Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) promised yet another memorable tournament after hosting the last edition of the qualifiers in 2018.

Stadium preparations are underway at both the two cities and all is expected to be in order at the time the tournament commences. The 10 teams that will battle it out in the middle of the park for the tournament will include the five bottom teams in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League table, the top three teams from the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2 and the top two teams from the 2023 World Cup Qualifier Playoff.

From the 10 teams that will be coming down to Zimbabwe, seven have named their trusted lieutenants who are expected to get the job done. The seven teams who have named their final squads are Nepal, Ireland, Netherlands, Oman, Scotland, United States of America (USA) and the West Indies. The only three remaining teams are United Arab Emirates (UAE), Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.

Last week, the International Cricket Council (ICC) released the fixtures schedule with the headlining match being a Group A encounter between West Indies and the hosts, Zimbabwe. The other teams in Group A are Netherlands, USA and Nepal and the group’s matches will be played in Harare.

Group B has Ireland, Scotland, Sri Lanka, Oman and UAE and the matches will be played in Bulawayo. – @brandon_malvin