ICC U19 World Cup 2022: ICC cancels Asia, Americas and EAP Qualifiers due to COVID-19
The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced on Wednesday that the Americas, Asia, and EAP Qualifiers for the upcoming Men's U19 World Cup have been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
As per the guidelines approved by the International Cricket Council Development Committee and the ICC Board, the three events cannot be staged.
As a result, the likes of Canada, Papua New Guinea, and the United Arab Emirates will all progress to the marquee event in 2022 based on the most wins in the last five U19 qualifying events in each region.
''Incredibly disappointing'' - ICC Head of Events on the cancelation of U19 World Cup regional qualifiers
Chris Tetley, ICC Head of Events, expressed his disappointment at the cancelation of the three regional qualifiers for the U19 Men's Cricket World Cup 2022. He also stated that the board had no option but to cancel the events after teams withdrew due to the impact caused by the deadly coronavirus.
Tetley also added that the qualification of Canada, the UAE and PNG is in line with decisions taken by the ICC back in November 2020.
"It is incredibly disappointing that three regional qualifiers to the ICC U19 Men's Cricket World Cup have been cancelled due to COVID-19. Under the Member approved guidelines, where teams have withdrawn due to the impact caused by the pandemic, we had no other alternative but to cancel these three events,’’ said Chris Tetley.
"We have worked closely with all Members to try to ensure results can be determined on the field of play, however for these events it was not possible. Canada, the UAE and PNG will all progress to the U19 Men's CWC in line with the decision taken by the ICC Board in November 2020 in relation to cancelled qualifying events," he added.
In addition, the ICC has also relocated the U19 Men's Cricket World Cup Africa qualifiers from Nigeria to Rwanda due to COVID-19 restrictions. The tournament will now be played from September 30-October 7.