Scotland v Africa qualifier and Canada v Asia qualifier in ICC Intercontinental Cup 2004 semi-finals

Scotland will play the qualifier from the Africa region while Canada faces the winner of the Asia qualifier in the semi finals of the ICC Intercontinental Cup 2004, which were drawn at Edgbaston today during the Kenya v Pakistan ICC Champions Trophy 2004 match.

Scotland will play either Kenya, Namibia or Uganda in Abu Dhabi, depending on the outcome of the Kenya v Namibia match in Nairobi on 1 to 3 October. Canada will face one of the UAE, Malaysia or Nepal in its semi final in Sharjah; the outcome of the qualifying group will depend on the result of the Malaysia v UAE fixture in Kuala Lumpur from 17 to 19 September.

Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer and former Pakistan batsman Rameez Raja made today's draw, along with ICC Global Development Manager Matthew Kennedy.

The four regional winners will meet in the semi-final stages in the United Arab Emirates from 16-18 November, with the three day final taking place in Sharjah from 20 to 22 November.

Scotland was the first Associate Member to qualify for the semi-final stage, defeating Ireland by eight wickets in Dublin to win the European group. With 48.5 points, Scotland finished ahead of Ireland (43 points) and Holland (27 points).

Canada was the second country to qualify, after drawing the final match against Bermuda in Toronto. With 50 points, Canada narrowly won the Americas group ahead of USA (47 points) and Bermuda (29 points).

The ICC Intercontinental Cup is a new tournament for ICC Associate Member countries, and sees the introduction of a first-class competition for countries below Test match level.

With innovative playing conditions including a points system specifically created for the event, the ICC Intercontinental Cup gives players the chance to develop their skills in the longer version of the game, and assist in the progression to the next level of competition. Teams receive 14 points for a win plus any bonus points accumulated, while teams that draw or lose a match receive only their bonus points. Only in the event of a tie will teams pick up seven additional points.

Bonus points can be accumulated in both innings with a maximum of six batting points per innings awarded on the basis of 0.5 points for every 25 runs scored up to 300 runs. A maximum of five bowling points are available per innings allocated at 0.5 points per wicket taken.

To encourage teams to play for a result, the first innings of each side is restricted to 90 overs, unless the team batting first does not use its 90 overs. In that case the team batting second can bat for its 90 overs plus the overs short of 90 not used by the team batting first.

A minimum of 105 overs must be bowled on the opening two days of the match.

The ICC Intercontinental Cup is part of the High Performance arm of the ICC's Development Program, launched in 1997 to develop cricket as a global sport.

Since its inception, the Development Program has helped the number of ICC members increase by over 40 in the past seven years. The ICC now has 92 member countries; 10 Full, 27 Associate and 55 Affiliate members.

The remaining schedule for the ICC Intercontinental Cup is:

For more information on the ICC Intercontinental Cup, including scorecards, averages and points tables, visit the ICC website at www.icc-intercontinentalcup.com.