With the disturbing and unrest situation in Bangladesh, the Women’s T20 World Cup 2024, which is set to take place in October this year, is a week away from finally moving out of Bangladesh, as their cricket board gives their last-minute push to ensure a smooth conduct of the tournament.
The BCCI secretary, Jay Shah, has ruled out the possibility of India hosting the Women’s T20 World Cup as they prepare themselves for the ODI version of the tournament next year. This has led the International Cricket Council (ICC) to look for a new host.
The ICC is set to hold a meeting through online mode with the directors on August 20 regarding a different agenda, but the announcement of the final decision about the tournament can’t be ruled out. The Bangladesh Cricket Board, however, is trying its best to avoid shifting the T20 World Cup by taking more time.
Zimbabwe wish to host Women’s T20 World Cup 2024
The ICC is seeking a new host country with a similar time zone to that of Bangladesh, along with expected clear weather conditions. In such a way, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) seems to be the best option during the period for the competition.
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The England Cricket Board (ECB) has also shown its interest in hosting the event. However, the foul weather along with a huge difference in the time-zone could be an issue for the final decision to be made in their favor. The Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) and Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) are the other boards that are keen on hosting the 20-over competition.
ESPNcricinfo has confirmed interest from Zimbabwe has come on the back of their intentions to promote themselves as the best place to host any big cricketing tournament after they successfully went through the progression of the ODI World Cup qualifiers in 2018 and 2023. They hosted a World Cup in 2003, along with South Africa and Kenya.
Since that point in time, Zimbabwe has been isolated from many cricketing tournaments. They were cut from many events of the world, along with a self-imposed Test hiatus between 2005 and 2011, while the men’s team failed to qualify for the last two successive ODI 50-over World Cups (2019 in England and the recent 2023 in India), and two of the last three T20 World Cups.
The women’s team of the country has never competed at the World Cup stage and will not feature in this upcoming 2024 season, but they want to host the event from a neutral perspective.
They will co-host the Men’s U-19 World Cup with Namibia in 2026 and the ODI World Cup with South Africa and Namibia in 2027. By that period, the county is expected to have two more international grounds, as the ZC and the local government are working together to build the facilities in Victoria Falls and Mutare.
At the moment, they have Harare Sports Club, which installed floodlights last year and played a few games there, and Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo as the venue for the Women’s T20 World Cup 2024. These grounds hosted the televised encounter in the 2023 WC qualifiers, while the streaming games were held at Takashinga Sports Club and Bulawayo Athletic Club.
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The summer will enter in the country in October, with no such rain threat, making it a comfortable destination for a major selling point. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, will have their issues with the monsoon period.
UAE always struggles due to the lack of spectators, which won’t be the case with Zimbabwe. On the grounds, the school boys and girls can easily come and enjoy the T20 World Cup. They are hopeful, but the whole decision-making is on the ICC, which waits for BCB in the final week.