The 2021 Women's Cricket World Cup Qualifier was an international

women's cricket Women's cricket is the team sport of cricket when played by woman, women. Its Laws of cricket, rules are almost identical to those in the game played by men, the main change being the use of a smaller cricket ball, ball. Women's cricket is b ...

tournament that was held in Zimbabwe in November and December 2021. The tournament was the final part of the qualification process for the

2022 Women's Cricket World Cup The 2022 ICC Women's Cricket World Cup was the twelfth edition of the Women's Cricket World Cup, which was held in New Zealand in March and April 2022. It was originally scheduled for 6 February to 7 March 2021 but was postponed by one year due ...

. All of the regional qualification tournaments used the

Women's Twenty20 International Women's Twenty20 international (WT20I) is the shortest form of women's international cricket. A women's Twenty20 international is a 20 overs-per-side cricket match between two of the International Cricket Council (ICC) members. The very firs ...

format. The tournament was the fifth edition of the World Cup Qualifier, with the fixtures played as 50-over matches. Originally, the top three teams from the qualifier would have progressed to the 2022 Women's Cricket World Cup in New Zealand, with those top three teams, along with the next two best-placed teams, also qualifying for the next cycle of the

ICC Women's Championship The ICC Women's Championship (IWC) is an international cricket tournament used to determine qualification for the Women's Cricket World Cup. The first two tournaments were contested between the top eight teams of the ICC Women's Rankings. T ...

. Originally, the qualifier was scheduled to take place in Sri Lanka from 3 to 19 July 2020. In March 2020, due to the

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, 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) confirmed that they were reviewing the scheduling of the tournament. On 12 May 2020, the ICC confirmed that the tournament had been postponed. In December 2020, the ICC confirmed that the qualifier would be played during June and July 2021. In April 2021, the ICC postponed the tournament to November and December 2021. In August 2021, the ICC confirmed the dates for the tournament, and that it would be played in Zimbabwe. The full schedule for the tournament was announced in November 2021. The ten teams were placed into two groups of five, with the top three teams from each group advancing to the Super Six stage of the tournament. On 8 November 2021, Papua New Guinea announced that they had been forced to withdraw due to several players testing positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

. On 10 November, the ICC confirmed that there would be no replacement team for Papua New Guinea, with Group A reduced to four teams. In late November 2021, a new variant of the COVID-19 virus was discovered in southern Africa, with

Cricket Ireland Cricket Ireland (formerly the Irish Cricket Union) is the national Sport governing body, governing body for cricket on the island of Ireland (both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland), and oversees the national Ireland cricket team, men' ...

issuing a statement that they were monitoring the situation. Prior to the discovery of the new variant, three members of the Sri Lankan team had tested positive for COVID-19. Their scheduled match against the West Indies, due to take place on 27 November 2021, was cancelled after seven members of the Sri Lankan team tested positive. Later the same day, the ICC announced that the qualifier tournament had been called off, due to concerns of the new COVID variant and travel restrictions. Per the ICC's playing conditions, the qualification slots were based on the team's ODI rankings, therefore Bangladesh, Pakistan and the West Indies progressed to the 2022 Women's Cricket World Cup, with Sri Lanka and Ireland qualifying for the next ICC Women's Championship. The decision was criticized by some observers, given that at the point the tournament was abandoned,

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

(an Associate team) had been leading their group and were already guaranteed a spot in the Super Six stage with two points carried forward, but were not given an opportunity to qualify for the World Cup (or the Women's Championship). As a result, Thailand became the first team since the creation of the qualifiers in 2003 to win at least 3 of their first 4 matches without ultimately qualifying for the World Cup, as well as the second team since ODI status began to be offered in 2011 to win at least 3 matches overall without ultimately gaining ODI or Women's Championship status.

Status of matches

In September 2018, ICC chief executive Dave Richardson announced that all matches at ICC World Cup Qualifiers would be awarded

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

(ODI) status. However, in November 2021, the ICC reversed this decision, and determined that all fixtures in the Women's World Cup Qualifier featuring a team without ODI status would be recorded as a

List A List A cricket is a classification of the Limited overs cricket, limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competit ...

match. This followed an announcement retrospectively applying first-class and List A status to women's cricket.

Qualification

The following teams qualified for the tournament: Papua New Guinea withdrew from the qualifier due to positive

tests within the squad.

Squads

The following teams and squads were announced for the tournament. Players marked with an * were named as reserves in their respective sides.

Group stage

Group A

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Group B

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References

External links

Series home at ESPNcricinfo
{{DEFAULTSORT:World Cup 2021-22

Women's Cricket World Cup Qualifier The ICC Women's Cricket World Cup Qualifier is an international cricket tournament that serves as the final step of the qualification process for the Women's Cricket World Cup. The Women's World Cup was first held in 1973, and for the first se ...

International cricket competitions in Zimbabwe Cricket World Cup Qualifier Cricket World Cup Qualifier Cricket World Cup Qualifier Sports events curtailed and voided due to the COVID-19 pandemic 2021 in women's cricket