Barely seven weeks after the ICC announced a revised qualification schedule towards India 2023, the Men’s Cricket World Cup League has yet against been disrupted with three CWC League 2 series due to be played over the next few months postponed due to COVID-19, the ICC announced today.
The affected series are:
Oman, hosts (current league position: 1), USA (2), Nepal (7) – 19 – 28 March 2021
PNG, hosts (7), Oman (1), Scotland (2) – 14 and 24 April 2021
PNG, hosts (7), USA (2), Namibia (4) – 13 – 23 May 2021
ICC Head of Events, Chris Tetley said: ‘We have decided to postpone the three upcoming series involving six Members in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2 competition. The ICC’s priority continues to be to protect the well-being of players, coaches, officials and fans. We have fully assessed the situation with both hosts and all participating Members, and taking into account current travel restrictions, quarantine time before matches and on government and public health authority advice in relation to COVID-19, the best course of action was to postpone these series.
‘We are actively working with Members to identify suitable windows to reschedule the three series. We are likely to face more challenges over the coming months but will continue to try and maximise the opportunity for Members to qualify on the field of play,’ Tetley concluded.
The window for scheduling fixtures has been extended to the latest possible date of 28 February 2023, with reports indicating various contingencies are being considered, including a super-series concept in a bio secure bubble in the UAE or the like.
The next series scheduled in the competition is in July 2021 where Scotland are due to host Nepal and Namibia for six ODIs.
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