By Sukuoluhle Ndlovu
Zimbabwe has been granted the honor to host the 2021 International Cricket Council Women’s World Cup Qualifier.
The World Cup Qualifier will be held from the 21st of November to the 5th of December 2021.
10 teams are going to be part of the tournament, and three teams which will qualify will be the qualifiers for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 to be held in New Zealand from the 4th of March to the 3rd of April 2022. The three teams will join five teams that have already qualified through the ICC Women’s Championship, which are Australia, England, India, South Africa and hosts New Zealand.
The three qualifiers as well as the next two teams will also ensure places in the next ICC Women’s Championship (IWC) along with the top five from last time, as the number of teams in the third cycle of the IWC goes up from eight to 10 teams.
The teams that will be seen in action in the fifth edition of the tournament are Bangladesh, Ireland, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, the United States, the West Indies and Zimbabwe.
The Zimbabwe Cricket Chairman Tavengwa Mukuhlani said, “Firstly, I wish to express our heartfelt thanks to the ICC board for the magnanimous gesture in allowing us the privilege of hosting the ICC Women’s cricket world cup qualifier 2021.
“On our part, we will leave no stone unturned to ensure this prestigious global event stands out as a unique event that celebrates Zimbabwe in all its magnificent splendor, richness, vibrancy, diversity and glory.
“I believe being granted the right to host this tournament is a vote of confidence in what we as ZC are doing and what we are hoping to do.
“You can rest assured we will not disappoint, we will not disappoint the nation of Zimbabwe and we will not disappoint the game of cricket.”
The Head of events for ICC, Chris Tetley said the qualifier is an important event.
“The ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier is an extremely important event in our calendar as it is not only providing teams with a chance to qualify for the World Cup but will also determine the final two participants in the next edition of the ICC Women’s Championship.
I am sure Harare will be witness to some keenly contested matches. I thank Zimbabwe Cricket for agreeing to host the tournament and wish teams all the best in their preparations for those important events,” he said.
