The 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup Europe Qualifier was a

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

tournament that was played as part of qualification process for the

2022 ICC Men's T20 World Cup The 2022 ICC Men's T20 World Cup was the eighth edition of the Men's T20 World Cup, formerly known as the ICC World Twenty20. It was played in Australia from 16 October to 13 November 2022. In the final, England cricket team, England beat Pakist ...

. The sub regional tournaments were scheduled to take place in June and July 2021 in Finland and Belgium, with the regional final taking place in October 2021 in Spain. In April 2018, the

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the global Sports governing body, governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from Australia, England, and South Africa. In 1965, the body wa ...

(ICC) granted full international status to

Twenty20 Twenty20 (abbreviated T20) is a shortened format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two t ...

men's matches played between member sides from 1 January 2019 onwards. Therefore, all the matches in the Regional Qualifiers were played as

Twenty20 International Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of Twenty20 cricket, in which each team plays a single innings with a maximum of twenty overs. The matches are played between international teams recognized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). ...

s (T20Is). However, in May 2021, after several postponements due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the sub-regional qualifiers were cancelled. As a result of the sub-regional qualifiers being cancelled,

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

qualified from Groups A, B and C respectively, based on their positions in the

ICC Men's T20I Team Rankings The ICC Men's T20I Team Rankings is an international Twenty20 cricket rankings system of the International Cricket Council. After every Twenty20 International (T20I) match, the two teams involved receive points based on a mathematical formula. Th ...

as of 30 April 2020.

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

won the Regional Final, with Germany finishing in second place on

net run rate Net run rate (NRR) is a statistical method used in analysing teamwork and/or performance in cricket. It is the most commonly used method of ranking teams with equal points in limited overs league competitions, similar to goal difference in foo ...

, with both teams advancing to the 2022 ICC Men's T20 World Cup Global Qualifier A or 2022 ICC Men's T20 World Cup Global Qualifier B.

Background

The top team in each sub regional qualifier would have progressed to the Regional Final, with the top two teams from the final progressing to one of the two Global Qualifiers.

, the highest ranked team as of 1 January 2020, progressed directly to the Regional Final. On 28 January 2020, the ICC confirmed the teams and locations of the participants in the Europe Qualifier, with Finland hosting its first ever ICC event. Originally the qualifiers were scheduled to be played between May and November 2020, in Belgium, Finland and Spain. However, on 24 March 2020, the

(ICC) confirmed that all ICC qualifying events scheduled to take place before 30 June 2020 had been postponed due to the

. The European groups were originally scheduled to take place at the

La Manga Club La Manga Club is a sports and leisure resort located in the south-eastern region of Spain, Murcia, south of La Manga, and bordered by the Mar Menor and Calblanque Regional Park. The resort complex opened in 1972 and covers an area of 1,400 ...

in Spain in late August 2020, with the Regional Final also taking place at La Manga, possibly as late as November 2020. However, due to the impact of the pandemic, the qualifiers were planned to take place in 2021, with two events in Finland and one in Belgium.

Teams

The teams were placed into the following groups:

Qualifier A

Qualifier A was originally scheduled to take place from 16 to 22 May 2020 at the

in Spain. The event was rescheduled to take place at the end of August 2020, but was later postponed again. In December 2020, ICC announced that the 8 team tournament would have been played between 8 and 13 July 2021. Finland were named as the hosts of this tournament. The group stage would have seen Bulgaria, Cyprus, France and Israel in one group, with Italy, Malta, Norway and Spain in the other.

Qualifier B

Group B was originally scheduled to take place from 24 to 30 June 2020 at the Kerava National Cricket Ground in

Kerava Kerava (; ) is a town in Finland, located in the southern interior of the country. Kerava is situated in the centre of the Uusimaa region. The population of Kerava is approximately . It is the most populous Municipalities of Finland, municipality ...

and Tikkurila Cricket Ground and in

Vantaa Vantaa (; , ) is a city in Finland. It is located to the north of the capital, Helsinki, in southern Uusimaa. The population of Vantaa is approximately . It is the most populous municipality in Finland. Vantaa is part of the Helsinki Metropoli ...

in Finland. The event was rescheduled to take place at the end of August 2020, but was later postponed again. In December 2020, ICC announced that the 8 team tournament would have been played between 30 June and 5 July 2021, with Finland hosting the event.

Qualifier C

Qualifier C was originally scheduled to take place from 10 to 16 June 2020 in Belgium at the Royal Brussels Cricket Club in

Waterloo Waterloo most commonly refers to: * Battle of Waterloo, 1815 battle where Napoleon's French army was defeated by Anglo-allied and Prussian forces * Waterloo, Belgium Waterloo may also refer to: Other places Australia * Waterloo, New South Wale ...

and the Belgian Oval in

Ghent Ghent ( ; ; historically known as ''Gaunt'' in English) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the Provinces of Belgium, province ...

. The event was rescheduled to take place at the end of August 2020, but was later postponed again. The event was rescheduled to take place at the end of August 2020, but was later postponed again. In December 2020, ICC announced that the 8 team tournament would have been played between 5 and 10 July 2021. Belgium would have hosted the tournament. The group stage would have seen Czech Republic, Denmark, Isle of Man and Romania in one group, with Austria, Belgium, Portugal and Serbia in the other.

Regional Final

In December 2020, the ICC announced that the four-team tournament would be played in Spain between 15 and 21 October 2021, with two teams moving on to the next round. The schedule was announced in early October. At the halfway stage, Jersey were on top of the table after winning their opening three games. Jersey then won their next match to confirm their progression to the Global Qualifiers. Germany finished in second place, ahead of Italy on

, to also advance to the Global Qualifiers.

Squads

On 20 September 2021, Italy named former

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

international bowler

Jade Dernbach Jade Winston Dernbach (born 3 March 1986) is a former professional cricketer. Born in South Africa, he represented Surrey (2003–2021), England (2011–2014) and Italy (2021). He made his first-class debut in 2003 and won the NBC Denis Comp ...

in their squad, as well as Australian-born

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

bowler Grant Stewart, both of whom qualify via their Italian mothers. Gareth Berg of

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

was named as captain and coach, with former England international

Owais Shah Owais Alam Shah (born 22 October 1978) is a former England cricketer. A middle-order batsman, he played for Middlesex from 1995 to 2010 and Essex from 2011 to 2013 before announcing his retirement from first-class cricket. He played Twenty20 ...

as assistant coach. Germany were boosted by a return to the national squad for

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

bowler Dieter Klein, and a return from retirement for former

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

and

Glamorgan Glamorgan (), or sometimes Glamorganshire ( or ), was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It is located in the South Wales, south of Wales. Originally an ea ...

all-rounder Craig Meschede. Fayaz Khan and Faisal Mubashir were added to the German squad as reserves in October 2021. A dispute between the Danish association and its players following a proposed change to the selected squad, resulted in a number of players making themselves unavailable for selection. The Danish squad included former England international bowler Amjad Khan.

Points table

advanced to the global qualifier

Fixtures

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References

External links

Series home at ESPN Cricinfo
{{DEFAULTSORT:2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup Europe Qualifier Associate international cricket competitions in 2021 Associate international cricket competitions in 2021–22

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

ICC Men's T20 World Cup Europe Qualifier ICC International cricket competitions in Spain