BASSETERRE, St. Kitts -- THE International Cricket Council (ICC) has been forced to cancel its ongoing Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifiers due to the challenges of flights out of Africa following the discovery of the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 Virus.
Governments across the world have begun shutting out travellers who would have travelled to South Africa and several African nations following the discovery. The qualifiers were taking place in Zimbabwe when the decision was taken yesterday (Nov. 27) morning.
West Indies Women were taking part in the qualifiers and had already played and won their opening encounter. The decision was made just before the start of their second encounter yesterday morning when they were scheduled to play Sri Lanka.
According to reports out of Harare, a member of the Sri Lanka support staff tested positive for COVID-19 on the morning of the match, following six players that had tested positive since the Tournament began.
“The ICC indicated that with the emergence of the latest COVID-19 variant in South Africa and the introduction of travel restrictions from a number of African countries, including the host country Zimbabwe, it has reluctantly decided to call off the event, with the qualification slots decided as per team rankings, in keeping with the tournament’s playing conditions,” Cricket West Indies noted in a media statement.
That means that the Windies ladies, Bangladesh, Pakistan will now progress to the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup in New Zealand.
Chris Tetley, the ICC Head of Events expressed his disappointment to have to cancel the remainder of the event due to travel restrictions. He was quoted by CWI media as saying that “there was a serious risk that teams would be unable to return home”.
“We have explored a number of options to allow us to complete the event but it isn’t feasible and we will fly the teams out of Zimbabwe as soon as possible. Bangladesh, Pakistan and the West Indies will now qualify for the ICC Women’s World Cup 2022 by virtue of their rankings, whilst Sri Lanka and Ireland will also join them in the next cycle of the ICC Women’s Championship."
Meanwhile, Coach of the West Indies Ladies, Courtney Walsh also expressed his disappointment with the cancellation.
“I'm sure all the teams here participating would be disappointed as it is a chance to put all your skills on show and especially the teams vying to get to the World Cup, there's going to be disappointment. I think the right decision was taken by not putting the teams at risk, especially with the recent developments happening. We are obviously delighted that we have qualified and that we will be there at the World Cup next year.”
