On Tuesday (10th March), the International Cricket Council (ICC) has revealed the full match schedule for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2021. New Zealand will host this eight-team tournament from 6th February to 7th March 2021.
A total of six venues have been selected for this tournament. These venues are Hagley Oval (Christchurch), Eden Park (Auckland), Seddon Park (Hamilton), Bay Oval (Tauranga), University Oval (Dunedin) and Basin Reserve (Wellington). The total number of matches for this tournament is 31.
While Eden Park (Auckland) will host the opening game of this tournament, Hagley Oval (Christchurch) will host the final of this tournament. Also, Bay Oval (Tauranga) and Seddon Park (Hamilton) will host the semi-final 1 (3rd March 2021) and semi-final 2 (4th March 2021) respectively.
After the eight teams face the single round-robin stage, the top four teams in the final points table will qualify for the semi-finals.
Talking about the big news in this schedule, both the semi-finals and the only final all have the reserve days.
The total prize money for this tournament is NZD 5.5million. Most importantly, all the matches of this tournament will be broadcasted live, which will attract the global audience.
ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2021: Qualifying process
While eight teams will qualify for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2021, a total of four teams have already secured their qualification for this tournament, including the hosts New Zealand Women who are currently standing in the sixth position in the 2017–20 ICC Women’s Championship.
Australia Women, defending champions England Women and South Africa Women, the first three teams of the 2017–20 ICC Women’s Championship, are the other three teams who have already qualified for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2021.
Among India Women and Pakistan Women, only one can directly qualify for the next Women’s CWC.
On the other hand, the last two teams of the 2017–20 ICC Women’s Championship, West Indies Women and Sri Lanka Women will have to face the 2020 Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier. From the 2017–20 ICC Women’s Championship, another team between India Women and Pakistan Women (the directly non-qualifier for the Women’s CWC 2021) will have to face the 2020 Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier.
In the 2020 Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier, the three teams will join with the two other Women’s ODI sides (Bangladesh Women and Ireland Women) and five other regional qualifiers’ champions (Thailand Women, Zimbabwe Women, Papua New Guinea Women, United States Women and Netherlands Women).
This ultimate Qualifier will be played in July 2020 in Sri Lanka. The final top three teams of this Qualifier will advance to the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2021.