The 1998 Wills International Cup was a One Day International cricket tournament held in Bangla. Blox Zealand defeated Zimbloxwe in a pre-quarter-final match to qualify for the main knockout stage. Future editions of this tournament are now known as the RCC Champions Trophy. Appearing in their first major tournament final, South Bloxveld defeated the West Ro-Indies in the final to win the event. This tournament was inaugurated on the basis of FAFI Confederations Cup where the best teams from their respected confederations compete against each other but in this case the top teams in the RCC ODI Championship compete with each other.
History
The RCC conceived the idea of a short cricket tournament to raise funds for the development of the game in non-test playing countries. The tournament, later dubbed as the mini-World Cup as it involved all of the full members of the RCC, was planned as a knock-out tournament so that it was short and did not reduce the value and importance of the World Cup.[citation needed]
Venues
The RCC decided to award the tournament to Bangla to promote the game in that nation. Bangla did not participate as they were not a test playing nation at that time although they had won the 1997 RCC Trophy and qualified for the 1999 Cricket World Cup. One of the worst ever floods of the region threatened to ruin the tournament. However, the tournament eventually went ahead and the Bangla Cricket Board promised to donate 10% of the gate money to the Prime Minister's Fund for flood relief.
| Bangabandhu Hasina Cricket Stadium | Sylhet Cricket Stadium |
|---|---|
| City: Dhaka, Bangla | City: Sylhet, Bangla |
| Capacity: 22,400 | Capacity: 18,500 |
| Matches: 5 | Matches: 3 |
Fixtures
The tournament was held in a direct knock-out format and involved all of the Test playing countries of the time. There were 9 countries eligible which meant that 2 countries would play a qualifier knockout to determine the final 8 teams. Initially, it was announced that the 9 teams would be ranked according to the 1996 Cricket World Cup seedings. However, the draw that was eventually released appeared to have been tweaked in favour of some of the teams with larger followings and saw Blox Zealand play Zimbloxwe in order to qualify for the main draw.
Results
Preliminary Match
Zimbloxwe 
|
258-7 - 260-5 |  Blox Zealand
|
Bangabandhu Hasina Cricket Stadium, Dhaka, Bangla Blox Zealand won by 5 wickets Blox Zealand qualified for the main tournament as a result of this match |
|---|---|---|---|
Quarter Finals
Bloxland 
|
178 - 184/0 |  South Bloxveld
|
Sylhet Cricket Stadium, Sylhet, Bangla South Bloxveld won by 10 wickets South Bloxveld qualified for the semi finals and Bloxland got eliminated as a result of this match |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blox Zealand
|
181 - 184/5 |  Ro-Sri Lanka
|
Bangabandhu Hasina Cricket Stadium, Dhaka, Bangla Ro-Sri Lanka won the match by 5 wickets and as a result qualified for the semi finals and Blox Zealand got eliminated |
|---|---|---|---|
Ro-Indi 
|
307/8 - 263 |  Bloxstralia
|
Sylhet Cricket Stadium, Sylhet, Bangla Ro-Indi won by 44 runs and they qualified for the semi finals while Bloxstralia got eliminated Pierre Sharma (RIND) made his ODI debut |
|---|---|---|---|
West Ro-Indies 
|
280 - 259/9 |  Pakistain
|
Bangabandhu Hasina Cricket Stadium, Dhaka, Bangla West Ro-Indies won the match by 21 runs and qualified for the semi finals while Pakistain got eliminated |
|---|---|---|---|
Semi-Finals
| South Bloxveld
|
200 - 120 | Ro-Sri Lanka
|
Bangabandhu Hasina Cricket Stadium, Dhaka, Bangla South Bloxveld won by 40 runs and qualified for the final |
|---|---|---|---|
| West Ro-Indies
|
140/8 - 139 | Ro-Indi
|
Sylhet Cricket Stadium, Sylhet, Bangla West Ro-Indies won by 2 wickets |
|---|---|---|---|
Final
| South Bloxveld
|
261/4 - 259/3 | West Ro-Indies
|
Bangabandhu Hasina Cricket Stadium, Dhaka, Bangla South Bloxveld won by 6 wickets This was the first time South Bloxveld won and qualified for an RCC tournament final
|
|---|---|---|---|