Cricket with Dalchand Bissoon

The WICB in a recent release stated that the West Indies will take part in a tri-series tournament which will be hosted by Zimbabwe in August-September and which will include Pakistan.

The two visiting teams will be keenly contesting for the eighth and last Champions Trophy spot which will be hosted by England in 2017.

West Indies and Pakistan are ranked eighth and ninth in the Reliance ICC ODI rankings while Bangladesh is ranked seventh. West Indies has 88 points, Pakistan 87 points and Bangladesh 93 points. Only the top seven teams as of Sept. 30 will join hosts England to make it to the 2017 Champions Trophy.

Over the history of the tournament, Australia and India have been the successful teams as they have won the title two times each. India, the defending champions, won the last title in 2013.

In this tournament the associate nations will not participate. The tournament will be played from June 1 to19, 2017.

Bangladesh will host South Africa in a three-match ODI series which starts July 10 at Dhaka while Pakistan will play five ODIs against Sri Lanka after their three-match Test series. The first ODI starts on July 11 at Dambulla.

The West Indies, however, did not play any ODIs since the World Cup and the Zimbabwe tri-series will be the only one-day cricket before the Champions Trophy deadline on Sept. 30.

Zimbabwe will also host India in a three-match ODI series which starts July 10 at Harare Sports Club.

The  ICC and Pakistan Cricket Board and Zimbabwe Cricket have yet to confirm the schedule for the tri-series tournament.

The current Reliance ICC ODI Rankings are: Australia 129 points, India 115, New Zealand 112, South Arica 112, Sri Lanka 106, England 98, Bangladesh 93, West Indies 88, Pakistan 87, Ireland 50, Zimbabwe 44 and Afghanistan 41.