Dubai: The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Friday announced that the three upcoming series in the Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2 due to take place between March and May, have been postponed because of COVID-19.
The Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2 which forms part of the qualifying pathway to the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 in India, was scheduled to see 18 One Day Internationals (ODIs) played across the sixth, seventh and eighth series of the competition.
“The postponements are due to the current travel restrictions between countries, the quarantine time required before matches and the recent surge in COVID-19 cases,” the ICC said in a statement.
“As part of the ICC’s comprehensive contingency planning process across all ICC events and after consultation with Members and with the relevant government and public health authorities, the decision has been taken to postpone all three series,” it added.
The postponed series included table-toppers Oman who were due to host second-placed USA and seventh-placed Nepal for six ODIs between March 19 and 28, 2021.
The seventh series of the competition scheduled PNG who sit at the foot of the standings to host Oman and third-placed Scotland between April 14 and 24 2021. The final series which will need to be rescheduled was to see PNG play host again, with USA and fourth-placed Namibia travelling to the Pacific to play six ODIs between May 13 and 23 2021.
The ICC will now work with hosts and participating members to find an appropriate window where the qualification pathway fixtures can be safely and practically rescheduled before the cut-off date of February 28, 2023.
The window for rescheduling fixtures has been extended to the latest possible date to provide the best opportunity for qualification to be determined on the field of play.
“We have fully assessed the situation with both hosts and all participating Members, and taking into account current travel restrictions, quarantine time before matches and on government and public health authority advice in relation to COVID-19, the best course of action was to postpone these series,” said Chris Tetley, ICC Head of Events.
“We are actively working with Members to identify suitable windows to reschedule the three series. We are likely to face more challenges over the coming months but will continue to try and maximise the opportunity for Members to qualify on the field of play,” he added.
The next series scheduled in the competition is in July 2021 where Scotland are due to host Nepal and Namibia for six ODIs.
The Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2 acts as a pathway for teams to qualify for the ODI World Cup scheduled in India in 2023.
While Oman is at the top with 16 points from ten matches, they are followed by USA, who have 12 points from 12 games. Scotland, Namibia and the United Arab Emirates are third, fourth and fifth respectively and are ahead of Nepal and PNG. (UNI)
