England captain keeps selection doors open ahead of T20 World Cup
The English summer begins with the 50-over Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy on Saturday, giving domestic players the chance to play themselves into the plans for the T20 World Cup squad.
After the India-Pakistan Women’s Championship series got cancelled and the ICC divided the points between the two arch-rivals, Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Ehsan Mani expressed the country’s disappointment over the decision of the apex cricket council.
ICC’s verdict saw India women qualify for the 2021 Women’s World Cup with 23 points in their kitty, while Pakistan were stranded to play the qualifiers, finishing on 19 points.
“We are of course disappointed with the decision, but our team (comprising the CEO, legal department, and other heads) is reviewing the matter. Once that’s done, we will be able to comment,” PCB chief Ehsan Mani told Sportstar.
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Pakistan’s disappointment could also be because in a similar scenario in 2016, the ICC had awarded Pakistan full points as the BCCI had offered no written explanation for the failure to proceed with the series. Had the same happened this time, Pakistan would have qualified for the playoffs automatically, while India would have had to go through the qualifiers for the Women’s World Cup.
Notably, the apex cricket body also had to split points for the South Africa-Australia and Sri Lanka-New Zealand series which got cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak.
“The ICC Women’s Championship Technical Committee (TC) has decided that teams will share points in all three series in the ICC Women’s Championship that did not take place during the competition window,” ICC had said in a statement.
“The India-Pakistan series was originally scheduled in the sixth round of the competition, between July and November 2019, but despite the best efforts of both Boards, it was unable to take place,” the statement had added.
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