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he International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced the 2021 Women’s Cricket World Cup in New Zealand has been postponed to 2022 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on international cricket.

Alongside this announcement, the ICC also confirmed the Men’s T20 World Cup 2020 that was due to be held in Australia and was recently postponed, will now be held in Australia in 2022, with India to still host the 2021 edition.

In a statement, the ICC confirmed the changes, citing the impact of COVID-19 on international cricket competitions, and wanting to provide all participants an equal opportunity to succeed.

“The ICC today confirmed that the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2020 that was postponed due to COVID-19 will be held in Australia in 2022,” the statement read.

“India will host the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 as planned.

“The ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2021 in New Zealand has been postponed until February to March 2022 because of the impact the pandemic has had on cricket globally.

“The decisions were taken by the IBC (the commercial subsidiary of the ICC) following an extensive contingency planning exercise which has taken into account the health, cricket, and commercial impact of COVID-19 around the world,” the statement said.

ICC CEO, Manu Sawhney, said the changes allow enough time for all teams to prepare with international competition.

“We have taken the decision to move the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup to give players from every competing nation the best opportunity to be ready for the world’s biggest stage and there is still a global qualifier to complete to decide the final three teams,” Sawhney said.

“There has been no women’s international cricket played since the conclusion of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup earlier this year and due to the varying impact of COVID-19 globally that is likely to remain the situation for a number of the teams.

“Moving the event by 12 months gives all competing teams the chance to play a sufficient level of cricket ahead of both the qualification event and leading into a Cricket World Cup so the integrity of the tournament is maintained,” he said.

Discussing the Men’s T20 World Cup changes, ICC acting chairman, Imran Khwaja, said the changes were necessary to ensure the health and safety of everyone involved.

“Over the last few months as we have considered how we return to staging global events, our number one priority has been to protect the health and safety of everyone involved in ICC events,” Khwaja said.

“The decisions the board have taken today are in the best interests of the sport, our partners, and importantly our fans.

“I’d like to thank our partners at the Board of Cricket Control in India, Cricket Australia, and Cricket New Zealand as well as the Australian and New Zealand Governments for their continued support and commitment to a safe return to ICC events,” he said.