Women’s T20 World Cup moved from Bangladesh to UAE

The 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup will be moved from Bangladesh to the United Arab Emirates following civil unrest in the original host country.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) said in a statement that the tournament will now be staged at two venues in the UAE – Dubai and Sharjah – between 3-20 October.

Bangladesh’s former prime minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled to India this month after weeks of deadly anti-government protests.

ICC chief executive Geoff Allardice said: “It is a shame not to be hosting the Women’s T20 World Cup in Bangladesh as we know the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) would have staged a memorable event.

“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.

“I’d also like to thank the Emirates Cricket Board for stepping in to host on behalf of the BCB.”

India previously refused to step in as hosts although Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe had both offered to stage the tournament.

England and Scotland have qualified for the 10-team tournament and have been drawn together in Group B.

They had been due to play their opening fixtures, against South Africa and Bangladesh respectively, at Dhaka’s Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on 3 October, before facing one another in their final group match on 14 October.

Allardice added that the BCB will “retain hosting rights” and they “look forward to taking an ICC global event to Bangladesh” in the future.

The last edition of the tournament was held in South Africa in February 2023, when Australia won their sixth title with a 19-run victory over the hosts.

More than 400 people were killed in Bangladesh during weeks of student-led demonstrations, which started as a protest against quotas in civil service jobs.

A provisional administration, led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, was put in place after Hasina fled.

There will ball-by-ball radio commentary on every game available on BBC Sounds and BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra.

The ICC also confirmed that Greg Barclay will leave as the governing body’s chairperson in November.

Barclay was appointed ICC chair in November 2020, and was re-elected unopposed in 2022.

However, the 62-year-old has decided to step down at the end of his current tenure rather than seek re-election.

Barclay, who is a dual citizen of New Zealand and Canada, has been a member of the ICC board since 2014.

He served as chair of New Zealand Cricket (NZC) from 2016 to 2020.

The ICC has set a deadline of 27 August for nominations to be submitted for the position. Should there be more than two candidates an election will be held.