England-Ireland ODIs to kick-start new 'Super League'

The men's T20 World Cup has been postponed but Australia's qualification for another marquee International Cricket Council (ICC) event could get underway in the coming weeks.

The game’s global governing body announced today the long-awaited ODI Super League, a 13-team, multi-year competition that will determine qualification for the 2023 50-over World Cup in India, will begin this week.

Ireland's three-game series against reigning 50-over world champions England beginning Thursday in Southampton will be the new league's first series.

The ICC has not yet made clear whether the one-dayers on Australia's proposed upcoming tour of the United Kingdom will form part of the new structure.

"Further updates on the Super League and its fixtures will be shared in due course, after a discussion with ICC Member Boards," read an ICC media release issued Monday afternoon Australian eastern time.

The 13 competing teams are the 12 Test-playing sides plus The Netherlands, who qualified by winning the 'World Cricket Super League' (a separate competition featuring lower-ranked nations) all the way back in 2017.

Each team will play eight bilateral series (four at home, four away) that count for points (10 for a win, five for a tie or no result, none for a loss). The ICC has not specified what the criteria is to separate teams on equal points.

At the league's conclusion in 2023 the top seven teams, plus hosts India, will automatically qualify for the World Cup.

The bottom-five sides then have just one more chance to make the 10-team tournament; they will take part in a separate qualifying tournament in 2023 along with five lower-ranked nations, with the top two teams progressing to the World Cup.

The ODI Super League was initially slated to begin in May but the COVID-19 pandemic put paid to those plans.

Its inception follows last year's launch of the World Test Championship. Both competitions have been created to address long-standing concerns around the lack of context afforded to some bilateral series.

The ICC's general manager of cricket operations Geoff Allardice says the new structure "will bring relevance and context to ODI cricket over the next three years".

However it is expected that some ODIs will still be played outside the Super League, with the ICC outlining that "only the matches identified as part of (the Super League) will count towards the championship".

The players in England’s Test squad who would also be part of their ODI side, the likes of Ben Stokes, Joe Root and Jos Buttler, will not feature in the Ireland series

World Cup-winning skipper Eoin Morgan will lead the side with Moeen Ali named his vice-captain. Like England’s Test series against West Indies, the campaign will be played in a bio-secure ‘bubble’ in front of empty stands.

England ODI squad: Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali (vc), Jonathan Bairstow, Tom Banton, Sam Billings, Henry Brookes, Brydon Carse, Tom Curran, Liam Dawson, Ben Duckett, Laurie Evans, Richard Gleeson, Lewis Gregory, Sam Hain, Tom Helm, Liam Livingstone, Saqib Mahmood, Matthew Parkinson, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, Phil Salt, Reece Topley, James Vince, David Willey.

Ireland ODI squad: Mark Adair, Andy Balbirnie (captain), Curtis Campher, Peter Chase, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Jonathan Garth, Tyrone Kane, Josh Little, Andrew McBrine, Barry McCarthy, James McCollum, Kevin O'Brien, William Porterfield, Boyd Rankin, Simi Singh, Paul Stirling, Harry Tector, Stuart Thompson, Lorcan Tucker, Gary Wilson, Craig Young.