The 16-nation ICC World T20 2012 qualifiers will be played from March 13 this year in UAE.
At stake will be two places in the World T20 Cup that will be played this September in Sri Lanka. The 12-nation World T20 will have 10 Test playing countries and two other sides from this 16-side World T20 qualifier.
The 16 teams have been divided into two groups of eight each. The teams in each of the groups will play each other once in a round-robin format, with the top three teams in each of the groups having a chance to go through to the World T20.
At the end of the round-robin league, the top-most team in each group will play each other in a qualifier to decide one of the finalists. The winner of this first qualifier will enter the final and automatically go through to the World T20 finals. The losing team will then have to play an eliminator against one of the remaining four teams (ranked second and third in each of the two groups).
The winner of this eliminator will go through to the final to take on the winner of the first qualifier. Both these finalists will qualify for the World T20 this year and join defending champions England, Australia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, India, West Indies, New Zealand, South Africa, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe in the tournament.
The 16 teams participating in the ICC World T20 2012 qualifier are:
Afghanistan, Ireland, Netherlands, Scotland, Kenya, Canada, Hong Kong, Oman, USA, Bermuda, PNG, Uganda, Denmark, Namibia, Italy, Nepal.
