Important to make sure all teams are adequately prepared for the World Cup, says Meg Lanning

Meg Lanning, Australia captain, says the International Cricket Council (ICC) will have to make sure all the participating teams get equal and adequate preparation going into the 2021 Women's World Cup in New Zealand.



When the ICC officially postponed the men’s T20 World Cup on Monday (July 20) due to COVID-19 pandemic, which was slated to be held in Australia, they said the planning for the 2021 Women’s World Cup is going ahead as scheduled. New Zealand Cricket (NZC) have confirmed that a decision regarding this will be made in the next fortnight.



"It is something the ICC will have to weigh up in whether the tournament goes ahead. Will every team in the competition have the opportunity to prepare adequately for a World Cup? There are still a few teams that have to go through the qualifying process so I'm not sure how that will pan out,” Lanning was quoted as saying.



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"There's a few more decisions to be made around it rather than whether it can just go ahead or not. It's a pretty difficult position to be in, but as a player you want things to be as equal and fair as they can be heading into a big world tournament and I'm sure the organisers will make sure that happens."



Although New Zealand have been doing well to restrict the pandemic, the ICC will have to consider a variety of things before making a decision with regards to the tournament.



Five teams — Australia, England, South Africa and India along with hosts New Zealand — have already qualified for the tournament, but the qualifier to determine other three sides, which was to be conducted in Sri Lanka in July, has been indefinitely postponed due to the issues arising with the pandemic. Bangladesh, Ireland, Netherlands, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United States of America, West Indies and Zimbabwe are due to participate in that tournament.



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Australia is expected to return to international cricket when they play New Zealand in September at home.



"The planning is for that to still go ahead as scheduled, there needs to be flexibility around things if they change but from what I've heard still planning for that to happen which is really great for the players to look forward to and an end point to pre-season," Lanning added.



England was scheduled to play a tri-series with India and South Africa as other participants. Clare Connor, managing director of women’s cricket of England and Wales Cricket Board, confirmed to Women’s CricZone that India will not travel to England for the proposed tri-series. England could still play South Africa in a bi-lateral series to make up for the cancelled tri-series.