After a few years’ absences, the women’s Asia Cup has marked its return and the upcoming (2022) edition is reportedly scheduled to be played from the 1st to the 16th of October at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium in Bangladesh. The tournament this time around will have 7 teams contest for the Cup that India has dominated over 7 editions with 6 wins.
It now has been understood that in a historic move, this time around will be two women umpires and a woman match referee from Sri Lanka who’ll be officiating at the upcoming Women’s Asia Cup. It sees former Sri Lanka women’s team opener Dedunu De Silva and Nimali Perera, both who are Sri Lanka Cricket Level 3 umpires and former player, Vanessa De Silva, who is also a match referee, form the historic trio during the tournament.
Head of the National cricket operations, Chintaka Edirimanne said, “all three of them are highly experienced match officials in the domestic circuit and have officiated in the men’s first class and List ‘A’ matches. All three officials are currently officiating in all women’s major tournaments conducted by Sri Lanka Cricket and three officials’ appointments are a great honour to Sri Lanka.”
Venessa de Silva who is set to officiate the game was previously the head of Sri Lankan women’s cricket and made a great effort to develop women’s cricket while she also was a former women’s selection committee member. The historic trio are set to be the first who’ll be officiating an Asian women’s cricket event.
The Women’s Asia Cup initially was played in the 50-over format and after 4 editions, the format was changed to 20-overs. India by far has been the most successful side in the tournament with 6 title wins to their name. It was Bangladesh in the 2018 edition, who denied India their 7th in a row with a 3-wicket win off the last ball in the final. The 2020 edition, which was scheduled to take place in Bangladesh and later postponed to 2021, was eventually cancelled.
Shafiul Alam Chowdhury, the women’s committee chairperson and the director of the board in his statement to ESPNcricinfo said, “We are making all arrangements to welcome spectators, including school students, for all the matches of the Women’s Asia Cup because we want to generate substantial interest around women’s international cricket and the Bangladesh women’s team leading up to the 2024 T20 World Cup. We are planning on advertising both tournaments well given we are working with the ACC and ICC to make the Asia Cup and the 2024 T20 World Cup, respectively, a success.”
As reported earlier; India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and hosts Bangladesh are the nations participating in the upcoming edition. All teams are scheduled to arrive in Bangladesh on the 27 and 28th of September.
Among the seven teams set to play, UAE and Malaysia have booked their berths through the qualifying route after entering the final of the 10-team ACC Women’s T20 Championship that took place in June. UAE remained undefeated and finished as champions in the competition, handing a 5-wicket defeat to hosts Malaysia.
The 10 teams contesting at the ACC Women’s Championship were divided into two groups. Group A featured hosts Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Singapore and Oman. Unbeaten in the group, UAE with 7 points and Malaysia with 6 points advanced to the knockouts. Group B featured Bahrain, Bhutan, Hong Kong, Kuwait, Nepal and Oman of which Hong Kong remained unbeaten with 8 points and Nepal with a win in 3 games and a defeat totalling 6 points qualified for the knockouts.
The 1st knockout between UAE and Nepal saw UAE all-out for 81, but no further play was possible due to rain and UAE progressed to the final as they had a better net run rate during group stage matches. The 2nd knockout had play reduced to 11 overs for each side which saw Malaysia post 86 on board and then defend restricting Hong Kong to 74 to claim the win by 12 runs. The final has Malaysia post a total of 100 on board that UAE comfortably chased down with 5 wickets and 10 balls in hand.