ICC Intercontinental Cup 2009/10

The International Cricket Council today (Thursday) confirmed the remaining fixtures in its first-class tournament, the ICC Intercontinental Cup 2009-10, with everything leading towards next November's final, which will take place in the United Arab Emirates.

The next match to be played will start on 23 January between defending champion Ireland facing newcomer Afghanistan in a match to be played in Sri Lanka. Two days' later, second-placed Kenya will take on 2004 champion and current leader Scotland in a top-of-the-table clash.

Remaining fixtures for the second-tier ICC Intercontinental Shield have also been announced.

ICC INTERCONTINENTAL CUP

23-26 Jan - Afghanistan v Ireland, Sri Lanka
25-28 Jan - Kenya v Scotland, Kenya
17-20 Feb - Afghanistan v Canada, UAE
10-13 Jun - Netherlands v Scotland, Netherlands
11-14 Aug - Scotland v Afghanistan, Scotland
11-14 Aug - Ireland v Netherlands, Ireland
21-24 Aug - Canada v Zimbabwe XI, Canada
1-4 Sep - Canada v Ireland, Canada
1-4 Sep - Netherlands v Zimbabwe XI, Netherlands
2-5 Oct - Kenya v Afghanistan, Kenya
6-9 Oct - Zimbabwe XI v Ireland, Africa
13-16 Oct - Zimbabwe XI v Scotland, Africa
25-29 Nov - FINAL (five days), UAE

ICC INTERCONTINENTAL SHIELD

20-23 Jan - UAE v Uganda, UAE
2-5 Apr - Namibia v Bermuda, Namibia
5-8 Jul - Bermuda v UAE, Bermuda
18-21 Sep - Uganda v Namibia, Uganda
25-28 Nov - FINAL, UAE

The exact venues for these fixtures have not yet been finalised.

There will be a total of US$250,000 in prize money for the Associate and Affiliate teams taking part in the ICC Intercontinental Cup with US$100,000 for the winners and US$40,000 for the runners-up.

Having previously been designed around a two-group, three-day format, the event then evolved into an eight-team, round-robin and truly global tournament featuring four-day cricket which gives those teams who do not play Test cricket the chance to experience the longer form of the game.

This year's format includes seven teams (Afghanistan, Canada, Ireland, Kenya, Netherlands, Scotland and Zimbabwe XI), while the new competition, the ICC Intercontinental Shield, involves the four teams below that, namely Bermuda, Namibia, Uganda and the United Arab Emirates.

Scotland won the first ICC Intercontinental Cup in 2004, beating Canada in the final, while Ireland has been victorious in all three events since then, beating Kenya in the 2005 decider, Canada in the 2006-07 event and Namibia in 2007-08.