Vusumuzi Dube
Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE start their campaign in the International Cricket Council Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2021 when they square off against Thailand at Harare Sports Club on 21 November.
The Lady Chevrons are in group B together with Bangladesh, Pakistan, Thailand and the United States of America. Group A has West Indies, Sri Lanka, Ireland, Papua New Guinea and Netherlands.
Matches in the 10-team tournament will be played at Harare Sports Club, Old Hararians, Sunrise Sports Club and Takashinga Cricket Club.
Zimbabwe taking on Thailand will be one of the three other matches played concurrently on the same day as West Indies clash with Papua New Guinea (Sunrise Cricket Club) and Ireland versus Netherlands (Takashinga Cricket Club).
The Lady Chevrons go up against USA at Takashinga on 25 October, collide with Pakistan at Sunrise Sports Club two days later. Zimbabwe’s last group fixture is against Bangladesh on 29 November at OH.
According to the ICC, there is no knockout stage in the competition, with the preliminary league, consisting of five teams each in two groups, followed by a Super Six stage to decide the final positions at the end of 29 matches.
Such an important tournament is the event taking place in Harare on the calendar as it decides three qualifiers for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 to be held in New Zealand from 4 March to 3 April, joining five teams who have already qualified through the ICC Women’s Championship – Australia, England, India, South Africa and hosts New Zealand.
The three qualifiers as well as the next two teams will also ensure places in the next ICC Women’s Championship (IWC) along with the top five from last time, as the number of teams in the third cycle of the IWC goes up from eight to 10 teams.
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Online Reporter