On Thursday, The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced the postponement of two more qualifying events scheduled in 2020, due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2 series, which was to be hosted in Namibia in September and forms part of the qualification for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, involving Namibia, Papua New Guinea and the United States has been postponed.
In addition, the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup Qualifier Division 2 in Africa has also been postponed. It was supposed to happen in Tanzania between 7 and 14 August with Botswana, Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Tanzania all competing.
As a part of the board’s comprehensive contingency planning across all events and after an in-depth discussion with Members and the relevant government and public health authorities, ICC took a call of postponement of the said events.
The cricket board’s priority continues to be to protect and guard the well-being of players, coaches, officials, fans, and the cricket community as a whole.
“With ongoing international travel restrictions, global health concerns still prominent and on government and public health authority advice in relation to COVID-19 we have decided in partnership with Members, to postpone two further qualifying events. The ICC’s priority continues to be to protect the well-being of players, coaches, officials, fans and the whole cricket community.
“We will now work with hosts and participating Members to find a window where cricket can be safely and practically rescheduled. With this week’s IBC Board decision to hold the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 in October and November of 2023, we now have been given additional time to work to reschedule the Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2 postponed matches and enable us to preserve the integrity of the qualification process allowing it to take place on the field of play,” ICC Head of Events, Chris Tetley said.
The remaining U19 Cricket World Cup Regional Qualifier Division 2 event in Asia scheduled between 1 and 9 December which is due to be hosted in Thailand is currently being closely monitored and kept under review.
The announcement comes days after the global body made the decision to indefinitely postpone the Men’s T20 World Cup, which was to be held in Australia later this year.
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