The International Cricket Council (ICC) has decided to postpone the regional qualifiers for ICC World T20 2022 over COVID-19 fears. The Asia A Qualifier which is two steps away from the Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 was due to be hosted between 3 and 9 April 2021 involving Bahrain, Kuwait, Maldives, Qatar and Saudi Arabia has now been postponed and will be played in Kuwait between 23 and 29 October 2021.
The decision to postpone the qualifiers by the ICC was taken keeping in mind restrictions put in place by several participating countries to suspend sporting activities during these tough times.
The qualifiers for groups A and B for World T20 2022 in Australia were supposed to be held in April 2021 and have been rescheduled to 25-31 October 2021. Qualifier A involves Ghana, Lesotho, Malawi, Rwanda, Seychelles, Swaziland and Uganda and Qualifier B includes Botswana, Cameroon, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, St Helena and Tanzania. The postponements were confirmed as a result of the process undertaken for the ICC’s comprehensive contingency planning of COVID-19.
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World T20 2022 Regional Qualifiers Postponed
ICC Head of Events, Chris Tetley said: “As part of the ICC’s comprehensive contingency planning process we have decided to postpone three Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 qualifying events and the Africa U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup Division 2 due to COVID-19. With a combination of restrictions in place in some participating countries limiting the opportunity for team preparation, as well as ongoing quarantine requirements and travel restrictions, there was no other option but to postpone and reschedule the events.”
“In addition, we have also rescheduled the Men’s and Women’s T20 World Cup Africa Qualifiers and confirmed the dates for the U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup Africa Qualifier to ease calendar congestion and to provide the best opportunity for qualification to be determined on the field of play” he further added.
He further that the ICC is currently monitoring the situation at present and concentrating on the safety and security of its men and women cricketers.
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