ISLAMABAD, Sep 16 (ABC): The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Friday announced the fixtures for the inaugural ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup. The tournament will take place from January 14 to 29, 2023 in South Africa. As many as 16 teams are participating in the competition, making it one of the biggest ever ICC events, with 41 matches being played across 15 days. Last month the venues were revealed with Benoni and Potchefstroom hosting the big event.
Both cities hosted the ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup in January 2020. The qualification for the event began in June 2022, with four of the spots being decided by regional qualifiers and the last remaining spot going to USA on account of the side being the only Associate nation eligible to compete under the ICC’s Event Pathway Participation Criteria in the Americas region.
The 16 teams constituting of 11 full ICC members and five associate teams have been split into four groups. The top three teams from each group will progress to the Super Six League stage, where teams from Group A will play against Group D and Group B will compete against Group C. Indonesia and Rwanda are the two first-time participants in an ICC World Cup event. While Indonesia beat Papua New Guinea to win the East Asia-Pacific group in July, Rwanda became the final team to qualify for the event after beating Tanzania on Monday, (September 12). Four matches will take place each day with Australia playing Bangladesh on the opening day, followed by South Africa taking on India at the Main Oval in Willowmoore Park in Benoni while UAE will go up against Scotland, followed by Sri Lanka v USA at the B Oval.
The Super Six stage begins on 20 January, with the semi-finals taking place on 27 January and the final being played at the JB Marks Oval in Potchefstroom on 29 January. 30 January has been marked as a reserve day for the final. Around 16 warm-up matches taking place between 9 and 11 January in the cities of Johannesburg and Tshwane. Groups:- Group A: Australia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, USA Group B: England, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, Rwanda Group C: Ireland, Indonesia, New Zealand, West Indies Group D: India, South Africa, UAE, Scotland