Women’s T20 World Cup moved to February 2023

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has decided to push the next edition of the Women’s T20 World Cup to early 2023. It was originally supposed to be held in November 2022 in South Africa. While the Rainbow Nation will continue to host the mega T20 event but it has been pushed by a few months. The eighth edition of the Women’s T20 World Cup will now be played in February 2023.

This move comes days after women’s cricket was included in the Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022. That means that 2022 will host two big women’s cricketing events – the 50-over World Cup and the Commonwealth Games.

The ICC Women’s 50-over World Cup was originally scheduled to take place in New Zealand in February-March 2021. However, with the COVID-19 pandemic forcing the world to rejig things, the ICC pushed the showpiece event by a year and it will now be played in February-March 2022. Meanwhile, the Commonwealth Games which will be hosted in Birmingham is scheduled to take place in July-August 2022.

“Moving the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup to 2023 makes perfect sense on a number of levels. Firstly, it will provide a better workload balance for players giving them the best possible opportunity to perform to the highest levels on a global stage. Secondly, we can continue to build the momentum around the women’s game through 2022 and into 2023. We are committed to fueling the growth of the women’s game and today’s decision enables us to do that over the longer term,” ICC CEO Manu Sawhney was quoted saying.

On the other hand, there has been no decision taken on the impending Under-19 Women’s World Cup which was scheduled to take place in Bangladesh in January 2021. It is the first-time ever that an Under-19 World Cup was planned for women’s cricket.

Minimum age-cap added for international cricketers

The international cricket board also decided to put a cap on a minimum age for players playing or making their debut in international cricket. The ICC has decided that for a player to play any sort of international cricket, be it men’s, women’s or even under-19 cricket, the players must be at least 15 years of age.

“In case of exceptional circumstances, a Member Board could apply to the ICC to allow a player under the age of 15 to play for them. This could include where the player’s playing experience and mental development and well-being demonstrates that they would be capable of coping with the demands of international cricket,” an ICC release stated.

Excluded Persons Policy as part of the ICC Anti-Corruption Code

The ICC board also introduced a new policy in its Anti-Corruption Code. A policy named “Excluded Persons Policy” has been added as a part of the Anti-Corruption Code. This implies that the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Unit can impose an exclusion order on known corruptors which will prevent them “preventing them from any involvement in cricket activities including playing, administration, financing, attendance or any kind of involvement in a league, team or franchise.”