Tue | Nov 5, 2024

Women’s T20 World Cup relocated to UAE

Published:Wednesday | August 21, 2024 | 12:12 AM
Hayley Matthews (right) of the West Indies celebrates after taking the wicket of Deepti Sharma of India during the 2022 ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup match against India at Seddon Park on March 12, 2022 in Hamilton, New Zealand.
Courtesy of ICC
Hayley Matthews (right) of the West Indies celebrates after taking the wicket of Deepti Sharma of India during the 2022 ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup match against India at Seddon Park on March 12, 2022 in Hamilton, New Zealand.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (CMC):

THE INTERNATIONAL Cricket Council (ICC) has taken the decision to move the upcoming Women’s T20 World Cup from Bangladesh to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The highly anticipated event, which will run from October 3 to 20, was originally scheduled to be held in Bangladesh.

However, in a statement issued yesterday, the ICC’s chief executive Geoff Allardice said relocating the tournament was driven by the fact that governments of a number of participating teams had issued travel advisories in relation to Bangladesh.

Social unrest in Bangladesh earlier this month led former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign and flee the country.

While the World Cup will now be held in the UAE, the Bangladesh Cricket Board will continue to host the event.

“It is a shame not to be hosting the Women’s T20 World Cup in Bangladesh as we know the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) would have staged a memorable event,” Allardice said in a statement.

“I would like to thank the team at the BCB for exploring all avenues to try and enable the event to be hosted in Bangladesh, but travel advisories from the governments of a number of the participating teams meant that wasn’t feasible. However, they will retain hosting rights. We look forward to taking an ICC global event to Bangladesh in the near future.

“I’d also like to thank the Emirates Cricket Board for stepping in to host on behalf of the BCB and Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe for their generous offers of support, and we look forward to seeing ICC global events in both of those countries in 2026,” he further added.

The UAE, home to the ICC headquarters, has become a significant hub for cricket in recent years, hosting numerous qualifier tournaments as well as the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in 2021 alongside Oman.