Three ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022 European Qualifiers canceled due to COVID-19
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Three ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022 European Qualifiers canceled due to COVID-19

Once again, the devastating pandemic, Covid-19 forced International Cricket Council (ICC) to cancel three sub-regional qualifiers for the Twenty20 World Cup in 2022, scheduled to be staged in Australia. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had to call off the Indian Premier League (IPL) in the mid-way just four days ago due to the increasing aggression of Covid-19 in India.

Finland was ready to organize the sub-regional Europe qualifiers of Group A and Group B, scheduled to start from the next month. Finland had the scope of staging its first ICC competition. The Group ‘B’ qualifiers were scheduled to commence on 30th June and end on 5th July. The participants are Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Guernsey, Hungary, Luxembourg, and Sweden. The Group 'A' qualifiers were supposed to begin three days later involving the countries Bulgaria, Cyprus, France, Israel, Italy, Malta, Norway, and Spain. The Group 'A' qualifier was supposed to end on 13th July. Similarly, the Group ‘C’ sub-regional Europe qualifiers were scheduled to be staged in Belgium from 5th July to 10th July with Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Isle of Man, Portugal, Rumania, and Serbia. 

The decision of canceling the three sub-regional qualifiers came only after extensive discussions between the hosts, participating members, the relevant governments, public health authorities, and in line with the ICC’s comprehensive contingency planning of Covid-19.

The Three ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022 European Qualifiers canceled due to COVID-19 was the result of over half of the countries still facing significant restrictions on free movement and extensive quarantine periods for returning members back into their home countries, as well as domestic restrictions in place preventing teams from selecting and preparing squads for the tournaments. Full approval from the Belgian government for the staging of the event based on the Bio-Safety Mitigation (BSM) strategies proposed by the ICC was also not obtained. With the three events taking place at the start of the gateway which are three steps away from the World Cup, all tournaments had to be completed by the end of July 2021 to logistically enable the Europe Qualifier currently scheduled for October 2021 to take place, therefore providing no available opportunity to reschedule the events.

Despite the Three ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022 European Qualifiers canceled due to COVID-19, Italy, Germany, and Denmark will now qualify from the three groups of Europe sub-regional qualifiers, respectively, determined by their position in the ICC Men’s T20I Team Rankings as on 30 April 2020. They will now join Jersey in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Europe Qualifier scheduled to take place in Spain between 15 and 21 October 2021 with two qualifier spots up for grabs in the Group A or Group B global qualifiers. 

Along with Three ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022 European Qualifiers canceled due to COVID-19 two other events in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 pathway have been postponed. The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Americas Qualifier, two steps away from Australia and due to be hosted in Canada between 17 and 23 July 2021 involving the hosts, Argentina, Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Panama, and the USA, has been postponed due to government and travel restrictions. New dates and the host country will be confirmed in due course.

The Asia B Qualifier, which is also two steps away from Australia 2022 and was due to be hosted in Malaysia between 11 and 17 July 2021 involving Bhutan, China, Malaysia, Myanmar, Hong Kong, and Thailand, has also been postponed. It is now scheduled to be played between 9th and 15th November this year in Malaysia. The decision was taken to postpone due to extensive quarantine requirements in Malaysia and for the visiting teams on their return to their respective countries.