Suburban
The Women’s ODI World Cup qualifier, that will decide the final three spots for the 2022 World Cup, will be held in Zimbabwe later this year.
The ICC has announced that the ten-team tournament will be played between November 21 and December 5 in Harare.
The qualifiers were originally meant to be hosted by Sri Lanka in July 2020, but the Covid-19 pandemic forced the postponement of the tournament, as well as the main event in New Zealand.
The ten teams, vying for the three World Cup spots, will include Pakistan, West Indies, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Ireland – and the five regional qualifiers who won their respective competitions in 2019.
Hosts Zimbabwe are the Africa regional qualifiers, Thailand are from Asia, Papua New Guinea represent Asia East-Pacific, Netherlands are the European winners and United States of America will play as Americas champions.
While the top three make it to the eight-team ODI World Cup in March-April 2022, the next two teams from the competition will also secure their places in the upcoming ICC Women’s Championship.
The next cycle of the ICC Women’s Championship will expand from eight teams to ten, thus freeing up five places. The other five spots will be taken by the automatic qualifiers of the ODI World Cup – Australia, England, India, South Africa and New Zealand – on the back of their top-five finish in the previous iteration of the ICC Women’s Championship.
“I wish to express our heartfelt thanks to the ICC board for their magnanimous gesture in allowing us the privilege of hosting the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2021,” Zimbabwe Cricket’s Tavengwa Mukuhlani said.
“On our part, we will leave no stone unturned to ensure this prestigious global event stands out as a unique event that celebrates Zimbabwe in all its magnificent splendour, richness, vibrancy, diversity and glory. I believe being granted the right to host this tournament is a vote of confidence in what we as ZC are doing and what we are hoping to do.
“You can rest assured we will not disappoint. We will not disappoint the nation of Zimbabwe and we will not disappoint the game of cricket. On our part, we will leave no stone unturned to make sure this prestigious world function stands out as a special occasion that celebrates Zimbabwe in all its superb splendour, richness, vibrancy, diversity and glory. I consider currently being granted the opportunity to host these matches is a vote of self confidence in what we as ZC are carrying out and what we are hoping to do,” he said.
The qualifiers were originally meant to be hosted by Sri Lanka in July 2020, but the Covid-19 pandemic forced a postponement of the event, as well as the main World Cup event in New Zealand.
The teams that will be seen in action in the fifth edition of the tournament are Bangladesh, Ireland, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, the United States, the West Indies and Zimbabwe.
The tournament comprising of ten teams will decide the three qualifiers for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 to be held in New Zealand from March 4 to April 3.
The three teams will then join five teams who have already qualified through the ICC Women’s Championship – hosts New Zealand, defending champions England, Australia, India and South Africa in the next stage.
“The ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier is an extremely important event in our calendar as it not only provides teams with a chance to qualify for the World Cup but will also determine the final two participants in the next edition of the ICC Women’s Championship. I’m sure Harare will be witness to some keenly contested matches.
I thank Zimbabwe Cricket for agreeing to host the tournament and wish teams all the best in their preparations for this important event,” said Chris Tetley, the Head of ICC Events in a press release. — ESPN
