ICC Confirms Schedule For Upcoming 2022 Women's ODI World Cup

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has confirmed the schedule for the marquee Women’s 2022 ODI World Cup on Wednesday. Hosts New Zealand will kickstart the campaign against West Indies in the opening match in Tauranga on March 4.

Defending champions England will go up against six-time champions, Australia, in the second game at Seddon Park in Hamilton, followed by the runners-up of the previous edition, India, taking on arch-rivals Pakistan in a mouth-watering contest on March 6.

The 31 matches of the tournament will be played across 31 days, the ICC revealed. Eight teams will be competing for the prize and six cities – Auckland, Dunedin, Hamilton, Tauranga, Christchurch, and Wellington – will play as hosts for the teams.

Final will be played in Christchurch on April 3, ICC reveals

The grand final of the ICC tournament will be contested in Christchurch on April 3. Similar to the last tournament, each team will play the other once in a league-style format. The top four sides will qualify for the knockout stage, the semifinals, which will be played in Wellington and Christchurch on March 30 and 31 respectively.

Similar to the Men’s World Cup, a reserve day will be in place for the knockouts if there are complications on normal match days. The qualifiers for the World Cup were determined after the qualifying event in Zimbabwe was cancelled due to covid-19.

As a result, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and West Indies joined the already qualified teams – India, England, Australia, and South Africa in the group. New Zealand qualified automatically as the hosts. The tournament also marks the return of a major ICC tournament after a 2-year gap. The previous ICC women’s tournament was the T20 World Cup held in 2020 in Australia.

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