Bangladesh women’s cricket team qualified for the 50-over World Cup for the first time.
The International Cricket Council Saturday called off the ongoing World Cup Qualifiers 2021 in Harare due to the introduction of travel restrictions from a number of African countries, including the host country Zimbabwe, following the breakout of a new Covid-19 variant in southern Africa.
The governing body of international cricket in the media release named Bangladesh, Pakistan and the West Indies as the qualified teams for the World Cup 2022, to be played in New Zealand – based on the competition team rankings detailed in the tournament playing conditions.
Bangladesh were on top of Group B with wins over Pakistan and USA, while the Windies topped Group A after beating Ireland.
The news however, will come as a disappointment to Thailand, who do not have a ranking at the moment, but beat Zimbabwe and Bangladesh in the tournament.
The ongoing qualifiers in Zimbabwe were to decide the final three qualifiers for the World Cup 2022 as well as two additional teams for the next cycle of the ICC Women’s Championship.
Play in two of the three matches scheduled for Saturday – Zimbabwe v Pakistan and USA v Thailand – started as scheduled but the third fixture of the day, between the West Indies and Sri Lanka, could not be staged as a member of the Sri Lanka team support staff tested positive for Covid-19.
“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,” said ICC head of events Chris Tetley in a media release.
“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 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 ICC official added.
The teams who have qualified for the World Cup 2022 to be held from March 4 to April 3 are Australia, England, India, South Africa, New Zealand (hosts), Pakistan, the West Indies and Bangladesh.
The number of teams in the third cycle of the ICC Women’s Championship (from 2022-2025) has been increased from eight to 10, and these teams will be Australia, England, India, South Africa, New Zealand, Pakistan, West Indies, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Ireland.