The ICC Women’s World Cup is just around the corner in New Zealand starting on March 4. New Zealand has recorded an increase in the Omicron cases in recent times forcing the fans to stay at home.
Covid-19 continues to cast its shadow on major sporting events leaving the fans disappointed and away from stadiums. Even with strict protocols in place, due to the spike in Omicron cases, New Zealand is currently under red restrictions in its traffic light system.
Andrea Nelson the CEO of the World Cup organizing committee has said that at some venues no fans will be allowed inside the stadium. Although a limited number of tickets will be available for some matches.
“Unfortunately, at some venues, we will have to cancel existing tickets holders and obviously, that’s not something we want to do and we’re working really hard to see how many people we can get inside the stadium and maximize interest in the World Cup,” Nelson said.
With caution in mind, the World Cup will operate in pods of 100. The teams will also be following strict protocols to ensure a safe and smooth tournament.
Teams are traveling with an increased squad capacity with official playing 15 players plus the traveling reserves. With charter flights and exclusive hotel floors, the teams will be in a bio-bubble environment to keep them safe. In the worst-case scenario, teams will be allowed to compete in the tournament even with nine players in a match.
ICC Head of Events Chris Tetley at a media interaction in Christchurch on Thursday said, ”If it becomes necessary, we would allow a team to field nine players as an exception for this environment and if they had female substitutes from within their management team, we would enable two substitutes to play, no-batting, non-bowling, but to enable a game to take place.”
Expecting teams to be flexible in such testing times he added, “We would where necessary, reschedule fixtures, if possible.”
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