New Delhi, Aug 10 (UNI) The 2021 Women's World Cup was postponed due to lack of preparation time for players, not because of the safety issues pertaining to COVID-19 in New Zealand, event's CEO Andrea Nelson has said.
New Zealand is one of the least COVID-19 affected countries in the world. The country was scheduled to host the Women's Cricket World Cup from February 6 to March 7 next year.
However, the ICC on Friday, in its board meeting, decided to postpone the premier tournament until 2022.
'It came down to the ability of the teams to qualify,' Mr Nelson told 'NZME,' a local media group.
The qualifier for the tournament was supposed to be held in July, but was postponed due to the pandemic.
India, England, Australia, South Africa and the hosts New Zealand had already qualified for the tournament. They will retain that status, while the remaining three slots will be decided after a qualifying tournament in 2021.
'We’ve done a lot of contingency planning around this event, to give it the best possible chance of proceeding successfully - ultimately the decision to delay it comes down to cricket,' Nelson dwelled on that point.
'No qualifying tournaments have been able to be held yet, so in order to qualify and then compete in the event in 2021 – it was too risky,' she said.
'We've got teams that can’t train, they can’t assemble – in the case of a country like the West Indies they can’t leave their islands to bring the team together – and that’s just not a feasible way to ask a team to prepare for their pinnacle event,' she added.
Many top players across countries expressed disappointment over the postponement of the event. However, Nelson believed that pushing the tournament by a year would help them in preparation.
'Having the tournament in 2022 gives the best possible chance for teams around the world to train, prepare, and come and compete in their pinnacle event,' she said.
'We have absolutely no doubt we’ll be able to pick up those plans and deliver an amazing event a year later,' she added.
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