2021 ICC Women's T20 World Cup Africa Qualifier

2021 ICC Women's T20 World Cup Africa Qualifier
Dates9 – 19 September 2021
Administrator(s)Africa Cricket Association
Cricket formatTwenty20 International
Tournament format(s)Group round-robin and playoffs
Host(s) Botswana
Champions Zimbabwe
Runners-up Namibia
Participants11
Matches29
Most runsTanzania Fatuma Kibasu (280)
Most wicketsZimbabwe Loryn Phiri (16)
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The 2021 ICC Women's T20 World Cup Africa Qualifier was a cricket tournament that was played in Botswana in September 2021.[1][2] The matches were played as Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is), with the top team progressing to the 2022 ICC Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier tournament.[1] Botswana, Cameroon and Eswatini made their debut at an ICC women's event.[3][4] Malawi were originally named as a participants in the tournament, but they were replaced by Eswatini.[5]

The tournament was originally scheduled to take place in October 2021, but was brought forward to ease fixture congestion.[6] In July 2021, the dates for the Africa Qualifier were confirmed.[7][8] The fixtures were reshuffled shortly before the tournament, following a member of the Cameroon squad recording a positive COVID-19 test. The entire squad was placed into isolation until they returned negative tests.[3]

During Cameroon's opening match against Uganda, Maeva Douma dismissed four batters by 'Mankading'.[9] Namibia progressed to the semi-finals by winning all of their games to finish as winners of group B.[10] Uganda joined them in the semi-finals as runners-up in the group.[11] Zimbabwe topped group A with a 100% record to secure a semi-final against Uganda.[12] Zimbabwe and Namibia won their respective semi-finals to advance to the final of the tournament.[13][14][15] In the final, Zimbabwe beat Namibia by 13 runs to advance to the World Twenty20 Qualifier tournament, with Tanzania beating Uganda by nine wickets in the third place play-off match.[16]

  1. ^ a b "Qualification for ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2023 announced". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
  2. ^ "Uganda Cricket Summons 28 Ladies To Start World Cup Qualifiers Preparations". Cricket Uganda. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Botswana, Cameroon and Eswatini to compete in their first ICC Women's event". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
  4. ^ "Women's T20 cricket tournament: Lionesses en route to Botswana". Cameroon Tribune. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
  5. ^ "Cricket comes to town". The Voice. Archived from the original on 6 September 2021. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
  6. ^ "Men's T20 World Cup 2022 Regional Qualifiers postponed". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  7. ^ "Cricket: Rwanda to host four Africa Regional Qualifying tournaments". The New Times. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
  8. ^ "Rwanda to host four Africa Regional Qualifying tournaments". Rwanda Cricket Association. Archived from the original on 6 August 2021. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
  9. ^ "Cameroon v Uganda: Bowler Mankads four batters". BBC Sport. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
  10. ^ "Namibia through to semis". The Namibian. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
  11. ^ "Victoria Pearls book date with Zimbabwe in semis". Daily Monitor. Retrieved 15 September 2021.
  12. ^ "Lady Chevrons edge closer to final". The Herald. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
  13. ^ "Zimbabwe to face Namibia in final of T20I World Cup Africa Qualifier". The Herald. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
  14. ^ "Namibia beat Tanzania in thriller". The Namibian. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
  15. ^ "Lady Chevrons storm T20 World Cup Africa Qualifier final". Women's CricZone. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
  16. ^ "All-round Zimbabwe beat Namibia to win T20 World Cup Africa Qualifier". Women's CricZone. Retrieved 19 September 2021.