The ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier that was scheduled to be played until December 5th in Zimbabwe has been cancelled.
This is because of the new covid 19 variant that is present in South Africa and the travel restrictions imposed on several African countries including the host nation Zimbabwe.
The World Cup Qualifier would have decided the final three spots for the ICC Women’s World Cup in New Zealand, which will be played next year, as well as the two remaining spots, in the next cycle of the ICC Women’s Championship.
But as a result of the cancellation, the qualification slots have been decided as per team rankings.
Hence, Bangladesh, Pakistan and the West Indies will now progress to the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in New Zealand, with Sri Lanka and Ireland occupying the other slots for the 2022-25 cycle of the ICC Women’s Championship.
The ICC Head of Events, Chris Tetley, said, “we are incredibly disappointed to have to cancel the remainder of this event, but with travel restrictions from a number of African countries being imposed at such short notice, there was a serious risk that teams would be unable to return home.”
“We have explored a number of options to allow us to complete the event, but it isn’t feasible and we will fly the teams out of Zimbabwe as soon as possible. Bangladesh, Pakistan and the West Indies will now qualify for the ICC Women’s World Cup 2022 by virtue of their rankings, whilst Sri Lanka and Ireland will also join them in the next cycle of the ICC Women’s Championship,” he added.
However, two of the three matches scheduled for Saturday were still allowed to play and saw Pakistan winning Zimbabwe by 114 runs and Thailand winning their match against the USA by 9 wickets.
The fixture between the West Indies and Sri Lanka, could not be played as a member of the Sri Lanka team support staff tested positive for COVID-19.
Written by
Matthew Davis