ICC announces schedule for Women's World Cup 2022
The International Cricket Council (ICC), on Tuesday, announced the revised schedule for the 2022 ICC Women's World Cup. Notably, the mega tournament, which was originally scheduled to be played in 2021, had to be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, the tournament will begin on March 4 in New Zealand, with the final set to be played on April 3. Here is more.
Six cities in New Zealand to host matches
The eight-team ICC event will see 31 matches in six cities, Auckland (Eden Park), Hamilton (Seddon Park), Tauranga (Bay Oval), Wellington (Basin Reserve), Christchurch (Hagley Oval), Dunedin (University Oval). The semi-finals will be played at the Hagley Oval and Basin Reserve. Meanwhile, the Hagley Oval will host the final. Notably, the second semi-final and the final, at the Basin Reserve will be Day/Night contests.
Remaining three spots to be filled through Qualifiers
New Zealand, Australia, England, South Africa, and India have already qualified for the World Cup. The remaining three teams will emerge from the ICC qualifying tournament, which is set to take place between June 26 and July 10, 2021 in Sri Lanka.
England and India to lock horns on March 16
Defending champions England will begin their campaign against arch-rivals Australia on March 5 at Seddon Park. Meanwhile, the runners-up of previous edition, India, will face one of the Qualifiers in their opening clash on March 6 at Bay Oval, Tauranga. Notably, England and India will lock horns at the same venue on March 16, in what will be a repeat of 2017 final.
A look at the schedule for ICC Women's WC 2022
We are extremely proud of the significant progress: Manu Sawhney
Manu Sawhney, the ICC CEO, said in a statement, "We're extremely proud of the significant progress we have made in increasing prize money for ICC events over the last few years, with the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup 2022 in New Zealand having $NZD5.5 million dollars available in prize money, an increase of almost 60% on 2017 and more than 1000% compared to 2013."
'Winning the WC will be massive inspiration for next generation'
Indian captain Mithali Raj hopes to secure the World Cup title. "India has been doing very well at ICC tournaments in the past three or four years, whether you talk about the (ODI) World Cup or the recently concluded T20 World Cup, and if we manage to win the tournament in 2022, it will be a massive inspiration for the next generation," she stated.
