The ICC Committee Postpones The Inaugural U19 Women’s World Cup To January 2023

The first-ever ICC U19 Women’s World Cup, which was supposed to be played later this year in Bangladesh, has been postponed by the International Cricket Council (ICC). This decision was taken by the ICC cricket committee during a virtual meeting via conference call.

The ICC released a media release that confirmed that the board has agreed to postpone the inaugural ICC Women’s U19 World Cup 2021. There was also a financial angle involved as assumed by many given that the tournament was supposed to be held right after the Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 in India, and not many were interested in investing in the same, as per the New Indian Express reports.

COVID-19 Has Had A Significant Impact On U19 Programs And Preparations

The release stated that the decision was made due to the impact of COVID-19, which has not allowed the teams to properly prepare for a global event.

“COVID-19 has had a significant impact on the establishment and subsequent development of the U19 programs in many countries and teams would not be able prepare appropriately for a global event later this year. As such, the inaugural event will now take place in January 2023,” ICC release stated.

Instead of the ICC U19 Women’s World Cup, the release further stated that the global qualifier for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 would be held on December 2021. The ICC board will also allow members to take up to seven additional players and/or support staff to accompany the squad of 23 to ICC senior events, where a quarantine period is required.

ICC Committee Approves Changes To DRS And 3rd Umpire Protocols

The ICC committee also took some significant decisions regarding the DRS and the third umpire protocols. Anil Kumble, the head of the committee, confirmed that the contentious umpire’s call decision was going to stay.

“The Cricket Committee had an excellent discussion around Umpire’s Call and analyzed its use extensively. The principle underpinning DRS was to correct clear errors in the game whilst ensuring the role of the umpire as the decision-maker on the field of play was preserved, bearing in mind the element of prediction involved with the technology. Umpire’s Call allows that to happen, which is why it is important it remains,” Kumble stated.

Apart from this, 3 more changes were made to the DRS and 3^rd umpire protocols. The first of which stated that for the LBW reviews, the height margin of the Wicket Zone will be lifted to the top of the stumps to ensure the same Umpire’s Call margin around the stumps for both height and width.

The second change was that now a player will be able to ask the umpire whether a genuine attempt has been made to play the ball before deciding to review an LBW decision.

And the third decision was regarding the short-run rule. Now the 3^rd umpire will check a replay of any short-run that has been called and correct any error prior to the next ball being bowled.

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