The first-ever International Cricket Council (ICC) Under-19 Women’s T20 World Cup is scheduled to take place early next year in South Africa from the 14th to the 29th of January. The tournament is set to see a total of 16 teams compete of which 12 have gained direct qualifications, while the remaining 4 slots were followed following a set of ICC Qualifier events.
The 12 nations with gained direct qualification see Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa (hosts), Sri Lanka, West Indies, Zimbabwe and the United States in the mix of 12. The remaining 4 nations who’ve joined the 12 are United Arab Emirates (UAE) from the 6-team Asia qualifier, Indonesia from a bilateral East Asia Pacific (EAP) qualifier, Scotland from a bilateral Europe qualifier and Rwanda from the 9-team contested, Africa qualifier.
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ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup 2025 will be held in Malaysia and Thailand, and the 2027 U19 Women’s event will be jointly hosted by Bangladesh and Nepal.#CricketTwitter
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) November 13, 2022
2023 ICC Under-19 World Cup Format –
The inaugural edition of the historic U19 Women’s T20 World Cup that’ll take place in Benoni and Potchefstroom in South Africa early next year is scheduled to see as many as 41 matches played across 15 days.
The 16 teams constituting of 11 full ICC members and 5 associate teams have been split into four groups. The top three teams from each group will advance to the Super Six League stage, where teams from Group A will play against Group D and Group B will compete against Group C.
Future Under-19 ICC Events –
That was all about the historic, first-ever, ICC U-19 Women’s T20 World Cup and for women’s cricket to continue growing at the pace it is, continuity is a must and with the ICC having announced hosts for future such World Cups, the future only looks brighter for women’s cricket.
An ICC media release read, Zimbabwe and Namibia, Malaysia and Thailand, and Bangladesh and Nepal as the hosts scheduled for the ICC U19 events taking place between 2024 and 2027. The host countries for each event (briefed below) were selected through a competitive bidding process that was headed by a board sub-committee chaired by Martin Snedden.
The ICC Under-19 Women’s T20 World Cup 2025 will be held in Malaysia and Thailand, while the following 2027 World Cup will be jointly hosted by Bangladesh and Nepal.
Pathways –
The approved qualification pathways will see 8 teams receive direct qualification for the event, including the top three teams from each group at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023, the host Bangladesh (if not in the top three of Group 1) and the next highest ranked teams on the ICC T20I rankings as of 27 February 2023. The remaining two teams will be identified through a 10-team ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Global Qualifier.