ICC announces U19 Women's T20 WC Qualification process

The first-ever Women's Under-19 T20 World Cup will begin in South Africa in January 2023. The International Cricket Council (ICC) has revealed its qualification process for the 16-team tournament, which will start on June 3.

This tournament will be a prequel to the mega event slated for February, the ICC Women's T20 World Cup in South Africa.

Eleven full member countries, namely: Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies, and Zimbabwe, have already qualified for the main round.

For the remaining five spots, four teams will be decided via regional Qualifiers, while the USA have been awarded automatic qualification. They are the only associate national eligible across the Americas region.

Nineteen countries will fight amongst each other to fill the remaining four slots from Asia, Europe, East Asia-Pacific (EAP), and Africa.

The Asian qualifiers start on June 3 in Malaysia and will see Bhutan, Malaysia, Nepal, Thailand, Qatar, and UAE eye the coveted spot in the main draw.

In July, the EAP qualifiers will see Papua New Guinea (PNG) fight against Indonesia. Then, in August, Scotland will take on the Netherlands to see which side moves ahead of the European Qualifiers.

As many as nine teams - Botswana, Namibia, Malawi, Nigeria, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda - will fight it out to determine the African champions that book a place in the main round. These qualifiers will take place in Botswana in September.

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ICC Head of Events Chris Tetley said the tournament will offer more opportunities to women across the globe to display their talent and, in turn, increase the popularity of the sport.

"We are thrilled to be able to support the development of young female players by holding the U19 Women's T20 World Cup in South Africa on the eve of the senior event. The ICC U19 Men's Cricket World Cup has been the stepping stone for so many of the world's best male players, so we are excited to see how the inaugural U19 women's edition will drive the growth of women's cricket and improve the number of elite international playing opportunities for females at this age group in the years to come," Tetley explained.