New Travel restrictions imposed by the various African countries following the new variant of Covid_19 in South Africa caused suspension of World events once again. International Cricket Council called off the ICC Women World Cup Qualifier which was going on in Zimbabwe’s capital city of Harare.
The qualifier will now be decided on the basis of ICC Current ranking of the teams. therefore, Pakistan, Bangladesh and West Indies will progress to the ICC Women World Cup 2022 in New Zealand.
ICC Qualifier matches of Pakistan v Zimbabwe and USA v Thailand started as scheduled but the match between West Indies and Sri Lanka could not staged because Sri Lankan team support staff tested positive for Covid_19.
The official statement from the ICC Head of Event stated as
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.”
The teams that have qualified for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 in New Zealand from March 4 to April 3 are Australia, England, India, South Africa, the host nation New Zealand, Pakistan, the West Indies, and Bangladesh.
In the third cycle of the ICC Women’s Championship, spanning from 2022 to 2025, the number of participating teams has increased from eight to ten. The teams competing will be Australia, England, India, South Africa, New Zealand, Pakistan, West Indies, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Ireland.
