Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier schedule
The ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier schedule has been announced, with eight countries battling for the remaining two berths in next year’s T20 World Cup in South Africa.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will play Thailand on the first day of the global qualifier, which runs from September 18 to September 25, at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi. Zimbabwe will also compete on day one, taking with Papua New Guinea at the neighboring Tolerance Oval.
Bangladesh, Ireland, Scotland, and the United States round out the qualifiers for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, which will be held in South Africa next year, alongside Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Indies, and hosts South Africa.
The matches at the Tolerance Oval will be the first full internationals at the facility since it was granted ICC accreditation, while the final and both semi-finals will be played at the Zayed Cricket Stadium.
Bangladesh and Thailand are the top two teams in the ICC Women’s T20I Team Rankings and have been drawn in different groups after competing in the hugely successful T20 World Cup in Australia in 2020.
Ireland, Scotland, and the United Kingdom are in Group A with Bangladesh, while Thailand is in Group B with Zimbabwe, Papua New Guinea (PNG), and the United Arab Emirates. The top two teams from each group will advance to the semi-finals, and both finalists will qualify for the T20 World Cup.
While Bangladesh and Thailand secured the two spaces designated for the bottom two teams from the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020, the rest teams qualified through Regional Qualifiers.
Scotland (Europe), the United Arab Emirates (Asia), the United States of America (America), and Zimbabwe (Africa) have qualified after winning their respective regional competitions, while PNG are here as the highest ranked side as of 30 November 2021 from East Asia Pacific, which was unable to hold a competition due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ireland qualified as the highest-ranked team not to have qualified from the regional competitions.
