Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier: Bangladesh to play Papua New Guinea, Ireland take on Namibia on opening day

Defending champions Bangladesh will play Papua New Guinea while last time’s runners up Ireland will take on Namibia on the opening day of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier 2019 in Scotland from 31 August to 7 September. The league-cum-knockout tournament, which decides the two qualifiers for the Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 in Australia, will also see Scotland take on the USA and Thailand fight it out with the Netherlands, as all eight teams play on the opening day at the two venues the Forfarshire Cricket Club in Dundee and the Arbroath Cricket Club. [caption id=“attachment_7132541” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File picture of Bangladesh women’s team players. AFP[/caption] Namibia were named a replacement for Zimbabwe, having finished second in the Africa regional qualifiers earlier this year, while the Netherlands (Europe), Papua New Guinea (East Asia-Pacific), Thailand (Asia) and the USA (Americas) made it after winning their respective qualifying events. Scotland qualified as hosts. The eight teams are divided into two groups to decide the semifinalists, with the winners of the two semifinals ensuring a place at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 to be held in the Australian cities of Canberra, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney from 21 February to 8 March next year. Bangladesh, Thailand, Scotland and the USA form Group A, while Group B consists of Ireland, Papua New Guinea, Namibia and the Netherlands. Matches will be played at 10 am and 2 pm local times with all teams getting to play at both venues. Both semifinals (on 5 September) and the final will be played at the Forfarshire Cricket Club. The teams also get to play a warm-up match each ahead of the tournament, on 29 August.