Excitement builds ahead of inaugural ICC U-19 Women’s T20 World Cup as qualifier begins
The stage is set for the beginning of qualification for the inaugural edition of next year’s ICC Under- 19 Women’s T20 World Cup in South Africa, setting the tone for an exciting build up where the future stars of the women’s game will showcase their talents in front of the world.
The ICC U- 19 Women’s T20 World Cup on South African soil sees back- to- back women’s events take place in the space of two months where the stars of tomorrow are followed by the icons of today’s game in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.
The 16- team U- 19 Women’s T20 World Cup takes place in January 2023 and will include 11 Full Member nations Au s t r a l i a , Bangladesh, England, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Zimbabwe already confirmed as automatic qualifiers.
An additional four spots will be determined by a regional qualification process where 19 teams across four regions will battle it out, with the winner of each qualifier confirming their place in the World Cup. Completing the line- up the remaining fifth spot in South Africa is automatically awarded to USA by virtue of being the sole Associate Member nation eligible to compete under the ICC’s Event Pathway Participation Criteria in the Americas region.
Starting the Road to South Africa 2023 the first of the four regional events takes place in Asia, where Malaysian venues Kinrara Oval and YSD- UKM Oval, Unive r s i t i Kebangsaan in Kuala Lumpur will play host to the first ever U- 19 Women’s T20 World Cup qualification event. In the space of seven days between June 3 and 9, 15 matches will be played as the hosts welcome young stars from Bhutan, Nepal, Thailand, Qatar and UAE, with the winner confirming their place in the World Cup.
The U- 19 Women’s Cricket World Cup 2023 will also play an important role in the 100% Cricket Year of Women’s Cricket which was launched on International Women’s Day this year and aims to increase the visibility of women’s cricket, build heroes and connect more cricket fans with the women’s game.
ICC Head of Events Chris Tetley said “We are thrilled to be able to support the development of young female players by holding the U- 19 Women’s T20 World Cup in South Africa on the eve of the senior event. The ICC U- 19 Men’s Cricket World Cup has been the stepping stone for so many of the world’s best male players, so we are excited to see how the inaugural U-19 women’s edition will drive the growth of women’s cricket and showcase the future stars of the game. We look forward to working with Cricket South Africa and to celebrate another important milestone in the development of the women’s game.”
Speaking on the upcoming Asia Qualifier in Malaysia, Asia Regional Development Manager Aminul Islam remarked; “We are embarking on a very exciting journey where we will see some of the most promising young female talent in Asia competing in Malaysia this week. The participating teams are all hopeful of making history by competing at the first- ever ICC U- 19 Women’s T20 World Cup, and there’s no question we will see some excellent cricket take place to determine who qualifies.
“As part of the ICC Asia event legacy there will be an opportunity for
participants to attend a high performance seminar during the tournament which includes sessions on performance analysis and feedback training for coaches, talent identification and a workshop on how to increase the competitiveness of teams at regional level. I would like to thank the Malaysia Cricket Association for their support in hosting this landmark event.”
The three remaining regional Qualifiers will take place later in 2022; the East-Asia Pacific Qualifier will feature Indonesia and PNG battling it out in a three-match series in July, the Europe Qualifier will be contested in a similar format between Netherlands and Scotland in August, while nine teams will participate in the Africa Qualifier in September.