Papua New Guinea has withdrawn from the upcoming Women’s World Cup Qualifiers in Zimbabwe after COVID-19 cases hit the set-up. However, PNG was in quarantine prior to their scheduled departure on November 6 where multiple PCR tests of the squad members came out positive as well, and they were forced to take this huge step because of “not having enough players for the tour who can pass the COVID tests required for flying.”

“We have also over the weekend worked with the ICC on later flight options to give the team more time to still be able to tour. Unfortunately, all the extra efforts to get the team to travel have been unsuccessful,” said a Cricket PNG media release.

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Notably, PNG was expected to reach Zimbabwe a bit early so that they would get used to the conditions there. Moreover, they haven’t played for about two years because of the Covid-19 outbreak. However, the team was placed alongside the West Indies, Netherlands, Ireland, and Sri Lanka in the Women’s World Cup Qualifiers group as well.

“Unfortunately, despite everyone in Cricket PNG being fully vaccinated, COVID has robbed us of the opportunity to play international cricket once again. The board, management, staff and players are all devastated at this turn of events. Months of hard work have gone into this tour, and to be robbed by COVID before we could leave is hard to accept. COVID is in the community in PNG and despite putting in best practices, including vaccinations and quarantining players seven days early, it wasn’t enough on this occasion. Our only comfort is that all the players and support staff who have tested positive, due to being vaccinated, have had only mild or no symptoms,” the release further added.

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The Women’s World Cup Qualifiers will take place later this month whereas the main event will be played earlier next year as well.