Namibia face Ireland in ICC Cup

Namibia will host Ireland for their second four-day first-class International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Intercontinental Cup match at the Wanderers Cricket Grounds in Windhoek, starting this weekend.

The four-day first-class ICC Intercontinental Cup is competed by the top eight Associate sides. The side that wins the round-robin tournament spread over two-and-a-half years will play the 10th-ranked side on the ICC Test Team Rankings (as at 31 December 2017) in the four-match ICC Test Challenge during 2018.
If the Associate Member wins the series, to be played on a home and away basis, then it will become the 11th Test nation.
It also provides an opportunity to the participating teams to play in the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2018 and subsequently qualify for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. Both sides made winning starts to the tournament with Namibia defeating debutant Hong Kong by 114 runs at the same venue, while Ireland defeated the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by an innings and 26 runs victory in Dublin.
In addition to the ICC Intercontinental Cup matches, there will be two more second round matches in the ICC World Cricket League Championship with Namibia and Kenya playing in Windhoek on 30 October and 1 November.