International Cricket Council (ICC) have confirmed that the East Asia-Pacific Qualifiers to the ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup have been cancelled due to COVID-19. Earlier, Japan Cricket Association (JCA) were awarded the hosting rights for the regional qualification pathway tournament in September/October towards 2022 ICC U19 Cricket World Cup in West Indies.
Papua New Guinea U19 have been given the opportunity to take part in the 2022 edition, based on securing the most wins in the last five U19 qualifying events in the East Asia-Pacific region. Japan U19 squad had won the previous qualifiers held in Sano in 2019 and had their maiden appearance at the 2020 edition of the U19 World Cup in South Africa.
ICC Head of Events, Chris Tetley said: “It is incredibly disappointing that the regional qualifiers to the ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup have been cancelled due to COVID-19. Under the Member approved guidelines, where teams have withdrawn due to the impact caused by the pandemic, we had no other alternative but to cancel these events. We have worked closely with all Members to try to ensure results can be determined on the field of play, however for these events it was not possible.”
JCA were scheduled to host U19 teams from Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu in the 4-nation competition to decide the qualifier for the main event in 2022 in West Indies.
