Fixtures for 2019 Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier announced

The International Cricket Council, on Thursday (August 8), released the fixtures for the Women's Twenty20 World Cup Qualifier which begins in Scotland on August 31. Defending champions Bangladesh will kick-start their campaign against Papua New Guinea, while Ireland, last time's runners-up, take on Namibia in their opening game.



It is a league-cum-knockout tournament which will see the top two teams progress to the 2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup in Australia. The other teams involved in the tournament Scotland, USA, Netherlands and Thailand. All the teams will play on the opening day at the two venues - Forfarshire Cricket Club in Dundee and the Arbroath Cricket Club.



Originally Zimbabwe were scheduled to play in the tournament, but following the ICC suspension handed out to Zimbabwe Cricket in July, they have been replaced by Namibia - runners-up of the Africa Regional Qualifiers earlier this year. All the other teams Netherlands (Europe), Papua New Guinea (East-Asia Pacific), Thailand (Asia) and the USA (Americas) made it by winning their respective qualifying events. Scotland qualified as the hosts.



The eight teams are divided into two groups of four. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the semifinals - the winners of which will ensure themselves of a place at the 2020 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.



Bangladesh, Thailand, Scotland and the USA form Group A, while Group B consists of Ireland, PNG, Namibia, and the Netherlands.



Both semifinals and the final will be played at the Forfarshire Cricket Club on September 5.



The teams will also play a round of warm-up matches on August 29.



Warm-up Matches (August 29):

Ireland v PNG, Forfarshire Cricket Club

Bangladesh v Netherlands, Arbroath Sports Club

Scotland v Namibia, Forfarshire Cricket Club

Thailand v USA, Arbroath Sports Club



Tournament Matches



Day 1 (August 31):

Bangladesh v PNG, Forfarshire Cricket Club

Thailand v Netherlands, Arbroath Sports Club

Scotland v USA, Forfarshire Cricket Club

Namibia v Ireland, Arbroath Sports Club



Day 2 (September 1):

Thailand v Namibia, Forfarshire Cricket Club

Scotland v PNG, Arbroath Sports Club

Ireland v Netherlands, Forfarshire Cricket Club

USA v BangladeshArbroath Sports Club



Day 3 (September 3):

Ireland v Thailand, Forfarshire Cricket Club

Netherlands v Namibia, Arbroath Sports Club

Scotland v Bangladesh, Forfarshire Cricket Club

PNG v USA, Arbroath Sports Club



Day 4 (September 5):

A1 v B2, Forfarshire Cricket Club

B3 v A4, Arbroath Sports Club

B1 v A2, Forfarshire Cricket Club

A3 v B4, Arbroath Sports Club

Day 5 (September 7):

3^rd v 4^th Place Play-Off, Forfarshire Cricket Club

5^th v 6^th Place Play-Off, Arbroath Sports Club

7^th v 8^th Place Play-Off, Arbroath Sports Club

Final, Forfarshire Cricket Club