Two ICC Europe Qualifiers relocated from Scotland to Spain
Jun 24, 2021
Dubai [UAE], June 24 : In a bid to restart pathway events in Europe, the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Thursday announced the relocation of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup Europe Qualifier and the U19 Men's Cricket World Cup Europe Qualifier due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The first event to be relocated from Scotland to Spain is the Europe Qualifier to the ICC Women's T20 World Cup South Africa 2023. The Qualifier, which is two steps away from the World Cup, with unchanged dates of August 26-30, will see France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Scotland and Turkey all competing at La Manga, with France and Turkey taking part in an ICC women's event for the first time ever.
The ICC U19 Men's Cricket World Cup 2022 Europe Qualifier is also being relocated from Scotland to Spain and will now take place between September 19-25 at La Manga. Ireland, Jersey, the Netherlands and Scotland will all compete for one U19 Men's Cricket World Cup spot.
The decision to move the events to Spain was taken after a period of consultation with the participating countries and relevant governments, where it was determined that it was the best possible chance for the events to take place due to COVID-19 restrictions in Scotland.
Rescheduling the U19 Men's Cricket World Cup Europe Qualifier to September was the only viable option to determine on the field of play, which team will qualify for the U19 Men's Cricket World Cup 2022. The decision was taken in consultation with all participating Members, and consequently, Denmark and Guernsey will not be able to participate due to a clash with the European school calendar.
In Africa, the ICC U19 Men's Cricket World Cup Division 2 Qualifier involving Botswana, Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Tanzania has been cancelled as a result of COVID-19 restrictions. With no opportunity to reschedule the event, Tanzania and Rwanda have now been promoted to the Africa Qualifier on the basis of their records in the previous five editions of the U19 Men's CWC qualifiers. They will join Namibia, Nigeria and Uganda in competing for one of the remaining five U19 Men's CWC spots.
Finally, next month's ICC Men's Cricket World Cup League 2 series involving Scotland, Namibia and Nepal has been postponed due to the worsening situation in Namibia, where rising COVID-19 cases have impacted training preparations and the tightening of restrictions have reduced travel options. This series -- which forms part of League 2 which is two steps away from the Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 -- has been postponed to July 2022, after exploring options to also stage the event in Spain this summer which became infeasible.
ICC Head of Events, Chris Tetley in an official release said: "Whilst it is disappointing that Denmark and Guernsey will not be able to participate in the U19 Regional Qualifier, we are grateful for the efforts of everyone involved to enable these events to be rescheduled and give us the best possible chance of restarting ICC pathway events in Europe. The relocation of both events from Scotland to Spain will hopefully provide us with the first ICC pathway events since February last year."
