The ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier 2021 schedule has been announced and sees Ireland take on the Netherlands in their opening game.
The ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier 2021 is to be played across four venues in Harare, Zimbabwe from November 21 to December 5.
The tournament gets off with a set of warm-up matches on November 19 before the preliminary league takes place.
The 10 competing teams will be split into two groups of five for the preliminary league, with Ed Joyce’s girls in green placed in Group A alongside the Netherlands, Sri Lanka, Papua New Guinea and the West Indies.
There is no knockout stage in the competition, with the preliminary league, consisting of five teams each in two groups, followed by a Super Six stage to decide the final positions at the end of 29 matches.
Ireland’s match against the Netherlands will take place on the opening day of the qualifiers at Takashinga Cricket Club alongside three other matches.
Pakistan and Bangladesh feature in a highly anticipated match at the Old Hararians Club while Thailand and Zimbabwe face-off at Harare Sports Club and a second Group A clash of the day is played between West Indies and Papua New Guinea at Sunrise Cricket Club.
The Zimbabwe tournament is an important one on the calendar as it decides three qualifiers for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 to be held in New Zealand from 4 March to 3 April.
The three qualifiers will join five teams who have already qualified through the ICC Women’s Championship – Australia, England, India, South Africa and hosts New Zealand.
These three qualifiers as well as the next two teams will also ensure places in the next ICC Women’s Championship (IWC) along with the top five from last time, as the number of teams in the third cycle of the IWC goes up from eight to 10 teams.
All fixtures are day matches starting at 9:30 am local time, or 11:30 am GMT.
Groupings
| Group A | Group B |
| West Indies | Pakistan |
| Sri Lanka | Bangladesh |
| Ireland | Thailand |
| Papua New Guinea | Zimbabwe |
| Netherlands | USA |
Ireland ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier 2021 fixtures
Warm-up match
Friday, November 19 – Pakistan v Ireland
Qualifiers
Sunday, November 21 – Ireland v Netherlands – 11:30 am
Tuesday, November 23 – West Indies v Ireland – 11:30 am
Thursday, November 25 – Ireland v Sri Lanka – 11:30 am
Saturday, November 27 – Ireland v Papua New Guinea – 11:30 am
