DUBAI (ICC) — The International Cricket Council has announced the fixtures for the World Cricket League Division 5 tournament, which gets under way in Jersey on Saturday.

Jersey open their tournament against Oman, whose fall down the ranks of Associate cricket has largely mirrored Bermuda’s own.

Still, Oman have been top seeded for the tournament and will enter the competition as the favourites following an impressive debut at the ICC World Twenty20 in India where they beat Ireland. They have retained 12 players from that competition in their 14-man squad.

The other teams competing next week in the tournament during which 18 matches will be played, are Guernsey, Nigeria, Tanzania and Vanuatu.

The finalists will earn promotion to Division 4, and will play Bermuda in that tournament in Los Angeles later this year.

Jersey though are defending champions after beating Malaysia by 71 runs in 2014. However, Jersey and Oman, after finishing in the bottom two of Division 4, were relegated to Division 5.

The WCL offers teams a chance to get promoted as far as Division 2, which is the final stage in the pathway to qualification for the Intercontinental Cup, the ICC’s four-day first-class competition for Associate and Affiliate members, as well as the 50-over WCL Championship.

The winners of the Intercontinental Cup will play the tenth-ranked Test team in the four-Test ICC Test Challenge in 2018. If the Intercontinental Cup side win that game they will become the eleventh Test nation until 2022.

Fixtures

May 21: Jersey v Oman (Grainville); Tanzania v Nigeria (Farmers Field); Guernsey v Vanuatu (FB Fields)

May 22:: Jersey v Vanuatu (Grainville); Guernsey v Tanzania (Farmers Field); Nigeria v Oman (FB Fields)

May 24:: Nigeria v Guernsey (Grainville); Vanuatu v Oman (Farmers Field); Jersey v Tanzania (FB Fields)

May 25:: Oman v Tanzania (Grainville); Jersey v Guernsey (Farmers Field); Nigeria v Vanuatu (FB Fields)

May 27:: Vanuatu v Tanzania (Grainville); Jersey v Nigeria (Farmers Field); Oman v Guernsey (FB Fields)

May 28:: Final (Grainville); 3 v 4 play-off (Farmers Field); 5 v 6 play-off (FB Fields)