Men's T20 World Cup 2020 in Australia also moved to 2022, with India to host 2021 event
Saturday 8 August 2020 11:07, UK
The 2021 Women's Cricket World Cup in New Zealand has been postponed until 2022, the ICC has confirmed.
With the coronavirus pandemic having had an impact on international cricket tournaments, competitions continue to be juggled in an attempt to maximise the options available.
The ICC confirmed in a statement issued on Friday afternoon that the Women's World Cup will move to 2022.
The postponed men's T20 World Cup 2020, due to be played in Australia later this year, has also been shifted to 2022, as India will host the 2021 edition as was already agreed.
Friday's statement read: "The International Cricket Council (ICC) today confirmed that the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2020 that was postponed due to Covid-19 will be held in Australia in 2022.
"India will host the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2021 as planned.
"The ICC Women's Cricket World Cup 2021 in New Zealand has been postponed until February - March 2022 because of the impact the pandemic has had on cricket globally.
"The decisions were taken by the IBC (the commercial subsidiary of the ICC) following an extensive contingency planning exercise which has taken into account the health, cricket and commercial impact of Covid-19 around the world."
England won the last Women's World Cup - which they hosted in 2017 - and ICC chief executive Manu Sawhney is keen to give all teams a level playing field heading into the rearranged 2022 edition.
He said: "We have taken the decision to move the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup to give players from every competing nation, the best opportunity to be ready for the world's biggest stage and there is still a global qualifier to complete to decide the final three teams.
"There has been no women's international cricket played since the conclusion of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup earlier this year and due to the varying impact of COVID-19 globally that is likely to remain the situation for a number of the teams.
"Moving the event by 12 months gives all competing teams the chance to play a sufficient level of cricket ahead of both the qualification event and leading into a Cricket World Cup so the integrity of the tournament is maintained."
