ICC Postpones 2022 Women's T20 World Cup; To Be Held in February 2023

The ICC has taken a significant call concerning the Women’s T20 World Cup slated to take place in 2022. In order to manage the players’ workload, the ICC, on Thursday, decided to postpone the event to February 2023. The original month of the marquee competition was November 2022 in South Africa and now been shifted to early in 2023.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has disturbed plenty of sporting events around the world and women’s cricket schedule in particular. Women’s international game resumed in September this year ever since the 2020 T20 World Cup in Australia. In August, the ICC also delayed the 50-over tournament in New Zealand from 2021 to 2022, owing to the outbreak. Women’s T20 cricket will also debut in the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth games.

ICC mentioned in a statement that the board has decided to shift the current slot of women’s T20 World Cup from November 2022 to February 2023, announcing the dates as 9-26 February 2023. It further claimed that if not delayed, three significant events would have taken place in 2022. Since there were no tournaments scheduled in 2023, the association decided to keep it that year, which will also allow more preparation time for the players.

“The Board confirmed that the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup will move from its current slot at the end of 2022 to 9-26 February 2023. If not postponed, the year would have “three major events in 2022 with the Commonwealth Games in July 2022 and the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup due to be held in November 2022. As there are currently no major women’s events scheduled to take place in 2023 the Board confirmed the switch for the T20 World Cup to better support player preparation and to continue to build the momentum around the women’s game beyond 2022,” the statement said as released by ICC.

ICC CEO says moving the Women’s T20 World Cup to 2023 makes perfect sense:

CEO of the apex cricketing council Manu Sawhney elaborated that shifting the tournament to 2023 makes sense since it’s crucial to provide the players with the right balance of workload to enable them to perform at the highest level. Furthermore, the decision allows them to build the women’s game through 2022 and into 2023 and they are focussed in the growth of the same.

“Moving the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup to 2023 makes perfect sense on a number of levels. Firstly, it will provide a better workload balance for players giving them the best possible opportunity to perform to the highest levels on a global stage. Secondly, we can continue to build the momentum around the women’s game through 2022 and into 2023. We are committed to fuelling the growth of the women’s game and today’s decision enables us to do that over the longer term,” Sawhney stated as quoted by Times Now.

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