The International Cricket Council on Tuesday, November 02nd announced that the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier 2021 will begin from November 21 as previously scheduled in Zimbabwe. All 29 matches will be played across four venues namely, Harare Sports Club, Old Hararians, Takashinga Cricket Club and Sunrise Cricket Club in Harare from November 21 to December 05.
Pakistan and Bangladesh Women teams will start off the 10-team tournament at Old Hararians Club on 21 November. But before the tournament begins, all the teams would be involved in one set of warm-up matches to be played on November 19.
On the very same day as the Pakistan-Bangladesh clash, three other matches would be played concurrently where West Indies will play against Papua New Guinea (Sunrise Cricket Club), Thailand will be up against hosts Zimbabwe (Harare Sports Club) and Ireland will be up against Netherlands (Takashinga Cricket Club).
The 10 teams have been divided into two groups of five each with Group A having West Indies, Sri Lanka, Ireland, Papua New Guinea and the Netherlands while Group B comprises Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Zimbabwe and the United States.
Post group stage, three teams from each group will collide against each other in Super Six and at the end of it, the top three teams in the standing will move on to grab three spots in the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 to be held in New Zealand from 4 March to 3 April.
Five teams in Australia, England, India, South Africa and hosts New Zealand have already qualified via their top-five standing in the ICC Women’s Championship (IWC).
The remaining two teams in the top five of the Qualifier will also get a chance to participate in the next ICC Women’s Championship which will now have 10 teams from the upcoming edition.