The coronavirus pandemic has forced a major reshuffle in women’s cricketing events. In August 2020, the International Cricket Council (ICC) postponed the ICC Women’s World Cup from 2021 to 2022. The tournament was supposed to be held in New Zealand, a country that has had the lowest rate of coronavirus infections and the move did raise some eyebrows. However, with 2022 now becoming a jam-packed year, the ICC have now made one more decision regarding women’s cricket. The ICC have now postponed the Women’s World T20 which was slated to held in South Africa in November 2022 to February 2023.
With the postponement of the World Cup to 2022 and with women’s cricket being included in the 2022 edition of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, the schedule would have been jam-packed heading into the World T20 in November 2022. ICC CEO Manu Sawhney released a statement stating that the main reason for the decision was taking into account player burnout issues.
“As there are currently no major women’s events scheduled to take place in 2023 the Board confirmed the switch for the T20 World Cup to better support player preparation and to continue to build the momentum around the women’s game beyond 2022. 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 fuelling the growth of the women’s game and today’s decision enables us to do that over the longer term,” the ICC statement read
