Dubai: The International Cricket Council Board has announced the qualification route to both the Men’s and Women’s T20 World Cup in 2024, with 12 teams confirmed to get automatic qualification in the men’s tournament, to be co-hosted by the West Indies and the United States.
The ICC also confirmed South Africa as the host of the inaugural ICC U-19 Women’s T20 World Cup 2023.
The top eight teams from the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia along with hosts West Indies and the US, and the next highest-ranked teams on the ICC Men’s T20 rankings table as on November 14, 2022 will get automatic qualification for the 2024 men’s tournament.
If the West Indies finish among the top eight in Australia later this year, three teams will progress based on rankings. If the Caribbean side finishes outside the top eight, only two teams will qualify from the rankings table.
Since the tournament will feature 20 teams, the remaining eight spots will be decided through a regional qualification process. Africa, Asia and Europe each will have two spots open, while the Americas and East Asia Pacific (EAP) will have one each.
For the Women’s T20 World Cup 2024, eight countries will book berths to the showpiece event automatically, including the top three teams from each group of the 2023 event besides the host (if not in the six) and the next highest-ranked team(s) on the ICC Women’s T20 rankings table at a pre-determined date.
The remaining two teams will be determined through the Women’s T20 World Cup global qualifier.
The eight-team ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in 2025 will see the five highest-placed teams at the end of the 2022-25 ICC Women’s Championship (IWC) qualify automatically alongside the host which is yet to be confirmed.
The remaining two teams will be identified through a global qualifying event between the four bottom-placed teams in the IWC, besides an additional two teams from the ODI rankings.
The inaugural ICC U-19 Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 will be staged in January next year as a 16-team event. The 41-match event will be hosted by South Africa, who were also the inaugural hosts of the Men’s T20 World Cup in 2007.
(IANS)
