Three ICC Men's T20 WC 2022 European qualifiers cancelled due to COVD-19

The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Friday announced that three ICC Men's T20 World Cup Sub Regional Europe Qualifiers — pathway tournaments to the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia — have been cancelled due to COVID-19.

Finland was set to host their first ICC event with the Sub Regional Europe A and B qualifiers starting next month. The ICC Men's T20 World Cup Sub Regional Europe B Qualifier was due to be hosted between June 30 and July 5 involving the hosts, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Guernsey, Hungary, Luxembourg and Sweden.

The A qualifier was scheduled to start three days later with Bulgaria, Cyprus, France, Israel, Italy, Malta, Norway, Spain all competing until July 13.

The ICC Men's T20 World Cup Sub Regional Europe C Qualifier which Belgium was due to host between July 5 and 10 involved Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Isle of Man, Portugal, Romania, Serbia.

After extensive consultation with both hosts, participating members, the relevant governments, public health authorities and in line with the ICC's comprehensive contingency planning of COVID-19 the only course of action was to cancel the three events.

The cancellation was as a result of over half of the countries still facing significant restrictions on free movement and extensive quarantine periods for returning members back into their home countries, as well as domestic restrictions in place preventing teams from selecting and preparing squads for the tournaments.

Full approval from the Belgian government for the staging of the event based on the Bio-Safety Mitigation strategies proposed by the ICC was also not obtained.

With the three events taking place at the start of the pathway which are three steps away from the World Cup, all tournaments had to be completed by the end of July 2021 to logistically enable the Europe Qualifier currently scheduled for October 2021 to take place, therefore providing no available opportunity to reschedule the events.

Italy, Germany, and Denmark will now qualify from the Europe Sub Regional Qualifiers A, B and C respectively determined by their position in the ICC Men's T20I Team Rankings as of April 30, 2020. They will now join Jersey in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup Europe Qualifier scheduled to take place in Spain between October 15 and 21 with two qualifier spots up for grabs in the A or B global qualifiers.

ICC Head of Events, Chris Tetley said: "We have unfortunately had to cancel the three ICC Men's T20 World Cup Sub Regional Europe Qualifiers due to start next month as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"As part of the ICC's comprehensive contingency planning process, we have been working continuously with the hosts, participating members and all stakeholders to maximise the opportunity for qualification to be determined on the field of play. However, due to COVID-19 restrictions and the short timelines that the European season provides to allow us to progress with the next step in the pathway, there has been no other option than to cancel.

"I would like to thank Cricket Finland, the Belgium Cricket Federation and all participating members for their collective support in coming to this decision."

Two other events in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022 pathway have been postponed. The ICC Men's T20 World Cup Americas Qualifier, two steps away from Australia and due to be hosted in Canada between July 17 and 23 involving the hosts, Argentina, Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Panama and the USA, has been postponed due to government and travel restrictions. New dates and the host country will be confirmed in due course.

The Asia B Qualifier, which is also two steps away from Australia 2022 and was due to be hosted in Malaysia between July 11 and 17 involving Bhutan, China, Malaysia, Myanmar, Hong Kong and Thailand, has also been postponed. It is now scheduled to be played between November 9 and 15 in Malaysia.

The decision was taken to postpone due to extensive quarantine requirements in Malaysia and for the visiting teams on their return to their respective countries.

In addition, the ICC Women's T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier hosted by Malaysia has new confirmed dates of November 22-28. Bhutan, China, Hong Kong, Kuwait, Myanmar, Nepal, Malaysia and the UAE are all set to compete, with the date change allowing Malaysia to host both events back-to-back.