The ICC World Cup Qualifier (formerly ICC Trophy) is an international one-day cricket tournament run under the auspices of the International Cricket Council. Any Associate or Affiliate member of the ICC may attempt to qualify for the ICC Trophy by means of a system of regional qualifying events. The test-playing Full members do not take part. Zimbabwe have won the event the most, with three successive titles from 1982 to 1990.
Three current Test nations, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, have won the ICC Trophy, and can thus not defend their title any more unless the they decide to resign their Test status, which would make them eligible to compete in the ICC Trophy again. Sri Lanka who won the first edition of ICC Trophy in 1979, later went on to win the Cricket World Cup in 1996.
The 2005 ICC Trophy took place in Ireland, and the top five of the 12 competing teams will be granted One Day International status for matches amongst themselves and against the 10 ICC full members and Kenya. This status will need to be renewed at the next ICC Trophy tournament in 2009 for all six of the associate members (including Kenya). The top five finishers also qualified for the 2007 Cricket World Cup in the West Indies.
Read more about ICC Trophy: Previous Finals, Champions, Teams' Performances, See Also