Dubai, June 1 (Agency) International Cricket Council (ICC) on Wednesday announced the qualification process for the first ever Under-19 Women’s T20 World Cup. The tournament will take place in South Africa from January 2023. The qualification process for the tournament begins on 3 June. The U19 Women’s World Cup initially set to take place in 2021 was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It will act as a curtain-raiser for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, which will also be hosted by South Africa in February 2023. The event will be a 16-team affair with 11 full member nations — Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Zimbabwe.
Out of the five remaining spots, four will be determined by regional qualifiers, while the fifth spot has been automatically awarded to the USA on account of the side being the only associate nation eligible to compete under the ICC’s Event Pathway Participation Criteria in the Americas region. As many as 19 teams will battle it out for the four qualification spots across Asia, Europe, East Asia-Pacific (EAP) and Africa, with the process starting with the Asia Qualifier in Malaysia from 3 to 9 June. Six teams will compete in the Asia Qualifier – Bhutan, Malaysia, Nepal, Thailand, Qatar, UAE — playing 15 matches, with the winner confirming a place at the main event. Two teams will play the EAP (Indonesia, PNG) and Europe (Netherlands, Scotland) Qualifiers in July and August respectively, and nine teams will battle it out to become the Africa Champions in Botswana in September.