The ICC has announced that the Women’s World Cup Qualifier will take place in Zimbabwe in November and December. The 10-team qualifier had previously been scheduled for Sri Lanka. Also announced was the expansion of the ICC Women’s Championship, which will grow from 8 to 10 teams for the 3rd edition.
The World Cup qualifier will now take place in Zimbabwe between 21st November and 5th December. The 10-team tournament will feature a similar format to previous events, with the teams divided into two groups of 5. Then, the top three from each group will advance to the Super Six stage. Of those teams, the top three will qualify for the World Cup in New Zealand in March.
The 10 participating teams include six full members, and four associates. They are Pakistan, West Indies, Sri Lanka, Ireland, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Thailand, Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, and USA.
As well as the top three in the tournament qualifying for the 2022 World Cup, all the teams in the top five of the qualifiers will qualify for the next edition of the ICC Women’s Championship.
Expanding from eight to ten teams, the teams playing in the women’s championship will play a minimum of 27 ODIs. These matches will be part of the qualification process for the 2025 ODI World Cup. This will be a tantalising opportunity for the participating associate members to play against top opposition. It will also appeal to Ireland, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, who have not played in the Women’s Championship to date and have played a combined 11 ODIs since the 2017 World Cup.
Thailand are currently preparing for the tournament with a tour of Zimbabwe and South Africa.
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