1982 ICC Trophy

The 1982 ICC Trophy was a limited-overs cricket tournament held in England between 16 June and 10 July 1982. It was the second ICC Trophy tournament to be staged, with matches between the 16 participating teams played over 60 overs a team and with white clothing and red balls. As in the 1979 tournament, all matches were played in the Midlands, though on this occasion the final was held at Grace Road, Leicester.

The tournament served as the Cricket World Cup qualification process – Zimbabwe, who didn't play in the first tournament, defeated Bermuda in the final to qualify for the 1983 World Cup. Bad weather hampered the tournament throughout, with many games called off early or abandoned entirely because of rain; West Africa suffered the most, seeing a result in only two of their seven group matches.

Sri Lanka, who won the first tournament in 1979, had by now been promoted to Full Test and ODI status, and so did not take part, and automatically qualified for the World Cup. As a result only one spot was on offer to join the seven Full members in the World Cup which was won by Zimbabwe.

The 16 teams were divided into two groups of eight. Each teams played each other team in its group once in matches played between 16 June and 5 July, scoring four points for a win and two for a no-result (match started but not finished) or abandoned entirely without a ball being bowled. The top two teams in each group went forward to the semi-finals, the top team (With the highest number of points) in one group playing the runner-up from the other group. Where teams finished with equal points totals, first the number of games won and secondly run rate was used to separate them.

  Advanced to Semi-finals

Kenya recorded an easy nine-wicket win over Gibraltar. The Europeans were dismissed for just 80 (RCR Patel 3-13) and their opponents rushed to victory in 14.2 overs, with Rehmann making 53 not out. In a low-scoring match, Papua New Guinea beat Hong Kong by four wickets. The young Dermot Reeve made 38 for Hong Kong and took 2-26, but the Papuans overhauled their target of 100 with 34.4 overs in hand. Elsewhere, Zimbabwe crushed the USA by 191 runs, thanks to a second-wicket partnership of 214 between David Houghton (135) and Kevin Curran (126 not out) that set them on their way to 332/4. The Americans were never remotely in the hunt, and 4-34 from Peter Rawson restricted their total to just 141.

Gibraltar were in trouble at 42/4 against the United States, Shamshad Durrani having taken 3-12, before the rains came and put paid to any chance of a result. In a match reduced to 45 overs a team, Hong Kong's 207/7 (Andy Lorimer 53) was good enough, though Nissam Reuben's 6-2-7-3 was noteworthy, and the Israelis collapsed to 84 all out. In an all-African affair reduced to a 25-over game, Zimbabwe posted a highly competitive 192/4 (Houghton 71, Jack Heron 50) which Kenya never got anywhere near, making just 72/4 to lose by 120 runs.

The game between Gibraltar and Zimbabwe saw no play at all, and nor did the matches between Kenya and the USA or between Canada and Hong Kong. The other game did produce a result, however, with Israel recovering from the depths of 32/5 to post a reasonable-looking 167/9, bolstered by 75 not out from Stanley Perlman. Despite losing an early wicket, however, the Papuans cantered to a nine-wicket win as Nigel Robert Agonia (86 not out) and Taunao Vai (75 not out) added an unbroken 157 for the second wicket.