ICC officially postpones 2022 Women’s T20 World Cup to 2023
In the late hours on Thursday, ICC confirmed that it is officially postponing the Women’s T20 World Cup from 2022 to 2023, in a bid to avoid the cluster of big-ticket events in 2022. Manu Sawhney also stated that postponing the tournament makes perfect sense owing to no events in 2023.
Earlier in August this year, ICC had already postponed the 50-over Women’s World Cup in New Zealand from 2021 to 2022, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this time, on Thursday, ICC confirmed the postponement of Women’s T20 World Cup from November 2022 to March 2023, to avoid the cluster of events.
The tournament, which was scheduled in November 2022, would now be held in February 2023, similar to the 2020 T20 World Cup in Australia. With Women’s T20 cricket reportedly making its debut in the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games, ICC’s decision comes in as a right call, to move the event to 2023, with the 50-over World Cup too scheduled to be played in 2022.
“The Board confirmed that the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup will move from its current slot at the end of 2022 to 9-26 February 2023,” ICC said in a statement.
“As there are currently no major women’s events scheduled to take place in 2023 the Board confirmed the switch for the T20 World Cup to better support player preparation and to continue to build the momentum around the women’s game beyond 2022,” the apex body said.
ICC’s CEO Manu Sawhney admitted that pushing the World Cup back provides a better workload balance for the players, putting them in the best position to perform at the highest level on a global stage.
“Firstly, it will provide a better workload balance for players giving them the best possible opportunity to perform to the highest levels on a global stage,” ICC CEO Manu Sawhney said in the statement.
Last year, Women’s T20 World Cup in Australia proved to be an instant success, with the final at the MCG creating history, in terms of attendance for a women’s cricketing event. In pursuit of creating such interest and growth, Sawhney confirmed that the postponement of the event will help women’s cricket over the longer term.
“Secondly, we can continue to build the momentum around the women’s game through 2022 and into 2023. We are committed to fuelling the growth of the women’s game and today’s decision enables us to do that over the longer term,” he concluded.