(Image source: X.com)
[Saba Sports News] A layer of dark clouds is looming over the Jos Buttler-led England as they have been eliminated from the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023. What’s more, England’s qualification for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 is also at stake.
The qualification criteria for the 2025 Champions Trophy have been altered. This eight-nation tournament will now only consists of the sides which will be in top 7 at the end of the league stage in the ongoing ODI World Cup 2023, as confirmed by an ICC spokesperson to ESPNcricinfo. The eighth spot will be given to the host nation, Pakistan, who will have a direct qualification.
In the previous two editions of the Champions Trophy, which were won by India in 2013 and Pakistan in 2017, the qualification scenarios were quite different. Teams that secured a place in the top eight of the ICC ODI rankings by a specific deadline automatically qualified for those events.
However, this time the latest qualification method came as a shocker as England are currently at the 10th and last place on the World Cup 2023 points table, and their chances of finishing at least seventh look bleak by the end of the league matches.
Moreover, the ICC gave its approval for the qualification system of the 2025 Champions Trophy in 2021 when this competition was reinstated as one of the eight major men’s global tournaments scheduled for the 2024-31 period.
Alongside England, Bangladesh are also at risk of missing out on the 2025 Champions Trophy as they are are just above England in the points tally with one win out of six games. Full member cricketing sides such as the West Indies, Zimbabwe and Ireland are the three teams that will not feature in the 2025 ICC event as they failed to qualify for the 2023 World Cup.