The South African edition of the Women's T20 World Cup was on Thursday postponed by three months to February 2023 to avoid a cluster of big-ticket events in 2022 and manage players' workload, International Cricket Council (ICC) announced on Thursday. The tournament was scheduled in November 2022 but will now be held in February 2023. In August this year, the ICC had postponed the 50 over Women's World Cup slated in New Zealand from 2021 to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and women's T20 cricket is also set to make its debut in the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
"The Board confirmed that the ICC Women's T20 World Cup will move from its current slot at the end of 2022 to 9-26 February 2023," ICC said in a statement.
If not postponed, the year would have "three major events in 2022 with the Commonwealth Games in July 2022 and the ICC Women's T20 World Cup due to be held in November 2022."
"As there are currently no major women's events scheduled to take place in 2023 the Board confirmed the switch for the T20 World Cup to better support player preparation and to continue to build the momentum around the women's game beyond 2022," the apex body said.
The ICC said the decision was taken keeping in mind the workload of the players and also considering long term interest of women's cricket.
"Moving the ICC Women's T20 World Cup to 2023 makes perfect sense on a number of levels," ICC CEO Manu Sawhney said in the statement.
"Firstly, it will provide a better workload balance for players giving them the best possible opportunity to perform to the highest levels on a global stage. Secondly, we can continue to build the momentum around the women's game through 2022 and into 2023. We are committed to fuelling the growth of the women's game and today's decision enables us to do that over the longer term."