Women's World Cup Qualifier: Zimbabwe tournament involving Ireland abandoned amid new Covid-19 variant
- Published
Ireland had been scheduled to face Sri Lanka in a World Cup Qualifier in Harare on Monday
The Women's World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe, which involved Ireland, has been abandoned after the detection of the new Omicron Covid-19 variant.
Travel restrictions have been imposed from a number of African countries, including the host country.
The tournament was scheduled to be played until 5 December to decide the final three spots for the Women's World Cup in New Zealand next year.
Qualification places will now be decided based on team rankings.
This means that Bangladesh, Pakistan and West Indies will progress to next year's tournament, with Sri Lanka and Ireland occupying the two remaining berths in the next 2022-25 cycle of the International Cricket Council's (ICC) Women's Championship.
Meanwhile the men's one-day international series between the Netherlands and hosts South Africa has been postponed.
The decision to call off the event was made on Saturday, one day after the UK had added six countries - including Zimbabwe - to its travel red list.
Ireland had played two games in the competition and had been due to face Sri Lanka in their third and final group game on Monday.
Play in two of the three matches scheduled for Saturday - Zimbabwe v Pakistan and USA v Thailand - started as scheduled but the third fixture of the day, between West Indies and Sri Lanka, could not be staged as a member of the Sri Lanka team support staff tested positive for Covid-19.
"We are incredibly disappointed to have to cancel the remainder of this event but with travel restrictions from a number of African countries being imposed at such short notice, there was a serious risk that teams would be unable to return home," said Chris Tetley, ICC head of events.
"We have explored a number of options to allow us to complete the event but it isn't feasible and we will fly the teams out of Zimbabwe as soon as possible.
"Bangladesh, Pakistan and the West Indies will now qualify for the ICC Women's World Cup 2022 by virtue of their rankings, whilst Sri Lanka and Ireland will also join them in the next cycle of the ICC Women's Championship," he added.
'Fundamental change in Ireland women's cricket'
Richard Holdsworth, high performance director for Cricket Ireland, said he was "disappointed for all the players who are in Zimbabwe but from a health and safety perspective this is the correct decision".
"We will now concentrate on working with the ICC in getting our squad home as soon as practicable," he added.
"While it's never the manner in which you hope to qualify for a competition, it is a big result for Ed Joyce and his squad to be part of the 2022-2025 Women's Championship. It's not an understatement to say it should see a fundamental change in women's cricket in Ireland.
"However, today is a time not for celebrations, rather to concentrate on our team's safe and timely repatriation home."
South Africa v Netherlands ODI series postponed
Cricket South Africa (CSA) and the Royal Dutch Cricket Association (KNCB) have agreed to postpone the remainder of the three match one-day series owing to travel restrictions being introduced.
Both cricket boards confirmed the news after rain forced Friday's first match to be abandoned.
CSA said there had been "mounting anxiety and concern" from the Dutch team around curbs on flights and travel to South Africa being imposed by the EU, UK and US.
CSA acting chief executive Pholetsi Moseki said the "mental well-being of players is one of CSA's top priorities, and we respect our visitors' position and point of view".
He added: "CSA and KNCB will get into discussions around possibly rescheduling the tour within this cycle of the ICC Future Tours Programme ending in 2023."
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