The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Thursday announced the postponement of two further qualifying events due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The ICC Men's Cricket World Cup League 2 series due to be hosted in Namibia in September - which forms part of the qualification for the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 - involving Namibia, Papua New Guinea and the United States has been postponed.
In addition, the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup Regional Qualifier Division 2 in Africa has been postponed. It was due to take place in Tanza between 7 and 14 August with Botswana , Kenya , Mozambique , Rwanda , Sierra Leone and Tanza all competing.
"As part of the ICC's comprehensive contingency planning process across all ICC events and after consultation with Members and with the relevant government and public health authorities, the decision has been taken to postpone both events," ICC said in a statement.
Earlier on Monday, ICC had announced the postponement of the T20 World Cup due to the deadly virus.
ICC Head of Events, Chris Tetley, said that global health concerns and ongoing international travel restrictions were the reasons behind the postponement of these two qualifying events.
"With ongoing international travel restrictions, global health concerns still prominent and on government and public health authority advice in relation to COVID-19 we have decided in partnership with Members, to postpone two further qualifying events. The ICC's priority continues to be to protect the well-being of players, coaches, officials, fans and the whole cricket community," ICC's official website quoted Tetley as saying.
"We will now work with hosts and participating Members to find a window where cricket can be safely and practically rescheduled. With this week's IBC Board decision to hold the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 in October and November of 2023, we now have been given additional time to work to reschedule the Men's Cricket World Cup League 2 postponed matches and enable us to preserve the integrity of the qualification process allowing it to take place on the field of play," he added.
ICC said that the remaining U19 Cricket World Cup Regional Qualifier Division 2 event in Asia scheduled between 1 and 9 December due to be hosted in Thailand is being monitored and kept under review.
( With inputs from ANI )
