Women’s T20 World Cup moved to UAE due to ongoing unrest in Bangladesh

The Women’s T20 World Cup has been moved to the United Arab Emirates from Bangladesh following violent protests in the scheduled host nation, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced.

Student-led anti-government demonstrations and continuing civil unrest have led to Bangladesh’s former prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, resigning and fleeing to self-exile in India.

Given the security concerns, governing body the ICC said the T20 World Cup, set to run from 3-20 October of this year, will instead take place across two venues in the UAE – Dubai and Sharjah. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) will retain hosting rights.

“It is a shame not to be hosting the Women’s T20 World Cup in Bangladesh as we know the BCB would have staged a memorable event,” the ICC chief executive Geoff Allardice said. “However, they will retain hosting rights. We look forward to taking an ICC global event to Bangladesh in the near future.”

“I would like to thank the team at the BCB for exploring all avenues to try and enable the event to be hosted in Bangladesh, but travel advisories from the governments of a number of the participating teams meant that wasn’t feasible,” Allardice added.

England and debutants Scotland have both qualified for the 10-nation tournament, and were drawn together in Group B, with their fixture initially set to be the final one of the opening stage on 14 October.

South Africa and the West Indies are also in Group B, along with nominal hosts Bangladesh. Group A features defending champions Australia, plus India, New Zealand, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.