On Friday, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced that they have cancelled 3 T20 World Cup sub-regional European qualifiers for the upcoming edition in Australia in 2022 owing to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The tournaments were slated to take place from June 13 to July 10 in Finland and Belgium.
However, Italy, Germany, and Denmark will now qualify from the qualifiers as per their position in the ICC T20I Team Rankings as of April 30, 2020, as well. And now they will join Jersey in the T20 World Cup Europe Qualifier which is slated to be placed in Spain between October 15 and 21, 2021 where two places up for grabs in the A or B global qualifiers as well.
“We have unfortunately had to cancel the three T20 World Cup Sub Regional Europe Qualifiers due to start next month as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic….due to COVID-19 restrictions and the short timelines that the European season provides to allow us to progress with the next step in the pathway, there has been no other option than to cancel. I would like to thank Cricket Finland, the Belgium Cricket Federation and all participating Members for their collective support in coming to this decision,” ICC Head of Events, Chris Tetley said in a statement.
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Meanwhile, Finland was set to host their first ICC event next month with the Sub Regional Europe A and B qualifiers as well. However, the Europe B Qualifier, which is also included the hosts, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Guernsey, Hungary, Luxembourg and Sweden. However, it was due to be played between June 30 and July 5 as well.
On the other hand, the A qualifier was slated to start three days later with Bulgaria, Cyprus, France, Israel, Italy, Malta, Norway, Spain all competing until July 13 whereas the Europe C qualifier, slated to be played in Belgium between July 5 and 10 included Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Isle of Man, Portugal, Romania, Serbia as well.
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AMERICAS & ASIA B QUALIFIERS POSTPONED
The T20 World Cup Americas Qualifier, which is scheduled to be played in Canada between July 17 and 23, including the hosts, Argentina, Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Panama and the USA, has also been postponed owing to government and travel restrictions as well. However, new dates and the host will be confirmed soon.
The Asia B Qualifier, including Bhutan, China, Malaysia, Myanmar, Hong Kong and Thailand, was about to host in Malaysia between July 11 and 17, has also been postponed. It will now take place between November 9 and 15 in Malaysia as well.
