ICC Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier 2019: Bangladesh to face PNG in opener

Image Credits: ICC official website

Defending champions Bangladesh will play Papua New Guinea while previous runners-up Ireland will take on Namibia on the opening day of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier 2019 in Scotland from August 31 to September 7.

The league-cum-knockout tournament, which decides the two qualifiers for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 in Australia, will also see Scotland take on the USA and Thailand fight it out with the Netherlands, as all eight teams play on the opening day at the two venues – the Forfarshire Cricket Club in Dundee and the Arbroath Cricket Club. 

Namibia were named as a replacement for Zimbabwe, having finished second in the Africa regional qualifiers earlier this year, while the Netherlands (Europe), Papua New Guinea (East Asia-Pacific), Thailand (Asia) and the USA (Americas) made it after winning their respective qualifying events. Scotland qualified as hosts.

The eight teams are divided into two groups to decide the semifinalists, with the winners of the two semifinals ensuring a place at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 to be held in the Australian cities of Canberra, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney from February 21 to March 8 next year. 

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

Both semifinals (on 5 September) and the final will be played at the Forfarshire Cricket Club. The teams also get to play a warm-up match each ahead of the tournament, 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

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)

September 1: 

Thailand v Namibia (Forfarshire Cricket Club) 

Scotland v PNG (Arbroath Sports Club) 

Ireland v Netherlands (Forfarshire Cricket Club) 

USA v Bangladesh (Arbroath Sports Club)

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) 

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)

September 7: 

3rd v 4th Place Play-Off (Forfarshire Cricket Club) 

7th v 8th Place Play-Off (Arbroath Sports Club) 

Final (Forfarshire Cricket Club) 

5th v 6th Place Play-Off (Arbroath Sports Club)