ICC Women’s World Cup 2022 | Teams to be allowed to play with nine players due to Covid-19
International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced that the teams will be allowed to field nine players in the Women's ODI World Cup in New Zealand if Covid-19 disrupts the tournament. New Zealand is witnessing a surge in Covid-19 currently and more than 6000 cases were reported on Thursday.
Women’s ODI World is scheduled to be held this year from March 4 to April 3 in New Zealand. The tournament opener will be between New Zealand and West Indies in Mount Maunganui. ICC has now announced that the teams will be allowed to field nine players in a match if Covid-19 disrupts their plans. ICC's head of events Chris Tetley also added that the teams will be allowed to play two substitutes.
"If it becomes necessary we would allow a team to field nine players as an exception for this environment. And if they had female substitutes from within their management team, we would allow two substitutes to play - non-batting, non-bowling - to enable a game to take place," ESPNCricinfo quoted Tetley as saying.
"We'll be asking teams to show maximum flexibility and we'll be as flexible as possible if the need arises to fulfil our objective, which is to get the games on," he added.
Currently, there is a surge in COvid-19 cases in New Zealand. More than 6000 cases were reported on Thursday.