ICC declare venues for 2018 Women's World T20

Hosts Windies will be out to defend the title they claimed for the first time in India in 2016 at the Eden Gardens. Now, the chance has come for the team to make it two in a row at home as the ICC announced Antigua and Barbuda, Guyana and St Lucia as the three venues that will host the 2018 edition of the ICC Women's World Twenty20. The three locations chosen were selected by a bidding process that was carried out by the West Indian authorities.

The tournament will be held from November 9-24 and will be the first stand-alone Women’s World T20 after previous editions were held simultaneously along with the men’s tournament. The event will begin with group matches at the Guyana National Stadium and the Daren Sammy Stadium in St Lucia before the action heads to the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua for the semi-finals and final.

“The Windies women are the reigning ICC World Twenty20 champions and I’ve no doubt they’ll be looking to defend their title on home soil,” ICC Chief Executive David Richardson said in a press conference.

The Aussies, on the other hand, will be looking to add the fourth ICC title in their collection in the upcoming tournament. Australia will be hoping to win their fourth title from six editions of the tournament and stamp their authority on an event they will host themselves just 14 months later, in February 2020. Their preparations for this year’s event will begin on the subcontinent in March when they take on India and England in a T20I tri-series in Mumbai.

Australia, England, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and South Africa will also compete, with the full fixture to be revealed by the ICC in the coming months.