Afghanistan beat Ireland at Bready to clinch ICC Cricket World Cup 2027 spot
Afghanistan defeated Ireland in the third ODI at Bready on 11 August 2026 to secure a place in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2027, the team confirming qualification with an unassailable lead in the five-match series with two matches remaining.
The first game of the series was washed out, leaving Ireland’s qualification hopes precarious from the start. Afghanistan had won the second ODI, and their successive victories in the second and third matches ensured they booked a World Cup berth. The third ODI was a tighter contest than the second, with Afghanistan edging the match late to take a series lead that cannot now be overturned.
Rashid Khan played a decisive role across the series: he bowled a match-winning spell of 6/34 in the second game and won the Man of the Match award. In the third ODI Rashid took 3/44 with the ball and scored an unbeaten 37 off 44 balls to take Afghanistan over the line with a winning hit. Those individual performances were central to Afghanistan securing qualification.
Rahmat Shah and co. have thus joined South Africa and Zimbabwe as teams already through to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2027. India, Australia, New Zealand, England, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Pakistan are the other teams who have qualified for the Super 12 as per the newly announced format. The new format grants direct Super 12 entry to the top 8 ranked ODI teams as of September 30, 2026, apart from the co-hosts.
Afghanistan are ranked 8th in the ODI rankings and will remain at this position until the end of the deadline. Notably, the third host nation, Namibia, have to go through qualifiers because they are an associate nation. Ireland’s two defeats have made their qualification difficult, and they will have to go through the ten-team qualifiers to attempt to reach the tournament.
The ten-team qualifiers will include the 9th and 10th-ranked ODI teams together with the top four teams from World Cup League 2 and the World Cup Qualifier Playoff. The West Indies, two-time World Champions, will have to go through qualifiers for the second consecutive time to make it to the ICC event. The ICC Cricket World Cup 2027 will be played between 4 October and 21 November 2027 in South Africa, Namibia, and Zimbabwe.
