(Cricket News) With just two points from seven games, England is currently at the bottom of the standings following their defeat to Australia in Ahmedabad. Bangladesh is in front of them with an improved net run rate and an equal amount of points from an equal number of games.
With four points from seven games apiece, Sri Lanka and the Netherlands are ranked seventh and eighth, respectively, while New Zealand, Pakistan, and Afghanistan are ranked fourth, fifth, and sixth, with eight points apiece.
November 8th against the Netherlands and November 11th against Pakistan are England’s remaining two games.
The requirements are simple in order to be eligible for the 2025 Champions Trophy. With the exception of Pakistan, the top seven countries on the 2023 World Cup points chart following the league stage will advance to the Champions Trophy.
Pakistan will automatically qualify for the event as they are the official hosts.
Midway through the current 2023 World Cup, the ICC threw a curveball regarding Champions Trophy qualifying, surprising many fans and even some nations that now had extra motivation to finish in the top eight.
Pakistan is presently ranked fifth in the points table with eight points from eight games. The lowest place they can finish is seventh, so England will be guaranteed a spot in the Champions Trophy with an eighth-place finish.
To do that, it would be easiest if England won both of their remaining games, expecting that Bangladesh would lose to Australia and that India would defeat the Netherlands in the World Cup’s last league encounter on November 12.
In this manner, Bangladesh and the Netherlands will end with four or fewer points, while England will finish with six. That will be sufficient to get England into the Champions Trophy.
Even if Bangladesh wins its remaining games and the Netherlands defeats India (assuming England wins both games), England can still finish ninth and qualify; however, as all three sides would finish with six points, the rankings will be determined by the net run rate.
Another possibility is that Sri Lanka loses to New Zealand and either Bangladesh or the Netherlands lose to Australia or India, or both. The Netherlands, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka would then tie on four points. If England wins its final two games, they will finish with six points, which is more than enough to qualify for the Champions Trophy. They could possibly finish as high as eighth.
At worst, England can afford to drop their final two games and still be in the running for the Champions Trophy. If they lose to the Netherlands, England will have to pray that Sri Lanka is defeated by Bangladesh, that Australia is defeated, and that Sri Lanka is defeated by New Zealand. After that, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and England will all be tied at four points apiece, with the outcome determined by the net run rate.
Right now, out of the eleven teams participating in the 2023 World Cup, England has the lowest net run rate (-1.504). They will need to win by wide margins and, in the event that they lose, reduce the margins because the majority of their Champions Trophy qualifying scenarios depend on net run rate computations.
See more: List of Records Broken in Maxwell’s Remarkable Innings vs Afghanistan.
