On Monday, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced the postponement of Men’s T20 World Cup, 2020 due to an extensive spread of coronavirus pandemic which brought cricket to a halt early this year.
Now, the questions are arising on the future of the Women’s World Cup as well, which is scheduled to take place in New Zealand from February 6 to March 6, in 2021. New Zealand Cricket (NZC) chairperson Greg Barclay has stated that a decision over next year’s Women’s World Cup will be made shortly.
“The decision will be made in the next two weeks; it simply has to be because if there is a need to postpone that event then obviously we need to know that sooner rather than later,” Barclay told Radio NZ.
“Likewise, if it is to go ahead, then we need to make a final decision so that we can throw all the resources necessary to run a first-class world event in February,” he added.
The ICC did not see safe for 15 teams to travel to Australia in October this year, but when it comes to New Zealand, there’s positiveness concerning the women’s event as New Zealand has been one of the first countries to curb the community spread of the deadly virus.
The NZC can organise games at the five decided venues – Eden Park (Auckland), Bay Oval (Tauranga), The Basin (Wellington), Hagley Oval (Christchurch) and University Oval (Dunedin).
“How do you get teams travelling around the world, they’ve got to the hub through other countries and so what are the implications of that, and then getting them through the quarantine restrictions that may be in place. And of course, all of that comes with a cost, and so budgetary implications are heading into February,” Barclay added further.
