ICC Women's World Cup Qualifier In Zimbabwe Abandoned Amid Concerns Over New Covid-19 Variant

The ICC Women’s ODI World Cup qualifying event, held in Zimbabwe, has been abandoned after travel restrictions were imposed in a number of African countries, including the host country Zimbabwe, following the rise of cases of a new Covid-19 variant, called Omicron.

This tournament would have decided the final three spots for the ICC Women’s World Cup in New Zealand next year as well as the remaining two berths in the next cycle of the ICC Women’s Championship. The 2022 women’s ODI World Cup is scheduled to take place next year in March and April in New Zealand.

However, now with the tournament called off and not possible to be held at a later date, the three remaining spots will be decided according to the ICC rankings.

Hosts New Zealand, Australia, England, South Africa and India have already qualified for the World Cup. They will now be joined by Bangladesh, West Indies and Pakistan. Sri Lanka and Ireland occupy the other slots for the 2022-25 cycle of the ICC Women’s Championship, the ICC confirmed.

“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 Chris Tetley, the ICC Head of Events.

“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.