Chronicle Editor
AFTER the women’s and Under-19 qualification structures were announced last week, the International Cricket Council (ICC) this week revealed the four-step ladder to the 16-team 2022 Men’s T20 World Cup.
With hosts Australia and the top 11 sides at the 2021 event automatically qualifying, the new pathway will see 71 out of the remaining 92 ICC members competing for the four remaining slots in Australia.
Across a packed schedule of international cricket in 2021, spectators will see debuts for Hungary, Romania and Serbia at ICC events, while Finland and Japan will play host to T20 World Cup qualifiers for the first time.
Starting in April 2021 with the 13-team African sub-regional tournament, qualifying teams feed into regional finals across each of the five ICC regions, then eight teams move up from those events into the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier in early 2022, joining the four sides (Nepal, Singapore, UAE, Zimbabwe), who have qualified by virtue of their position on the MRF Tyres ICC Men’s T20I Team Rankings table.
Of those 16 nations (split into two groups of eight), four teams will go through to the main event starting in October 2022. – ICC Cricket
Online Reporter