ICC to stream Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier matches

The International Cricket Council on Thursday (August 22) announced that they will be streaming 10 matches of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier in Scotland which is set to begin on August 31. Six cameras will be used to cover all tournament games at Forfarshire Cricket Club including the two semi-finals and the final on September 7.



Two matches will be streamed per day. The tournament is set to kick off with a match between Bangladesh and Papua New Guinea on August 31.



The stream will be made available on ICC’s digital platforms. They will also provide video highlights for both the streamed and non-streamed matches in the tournament. All eight teams will be playing at least one streamed match, with Papua New Guinea and United States of America making their only appearance (in the league encounters) on the first day. Bangladesh, Scotland, Thailand and Ireland will each play two matches at Forfarshire Cricket Club while USA, PNG, Netherlands and Namibia will each feature in one live-streamed match each.



This edition of the tournament will thus be the most comprehensively covered Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier ever.



“For the first time ever we are live streaming ten matches of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier, this a huge step forward in our ambition to creating more exposure and role models for women’s cricket and getting the game to more fans across the world ahead of Australia 2020,” said Aatri Dabas, ICC’s head of media rights, broadcast and digital. “With two places at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 at stake, the ICC are providing significant coverage leading into the next World Cup to grow the reach and engagement of women’s cricket. Whether it be via live stream, video highlights, live scores, news or analysis across our platforms, we are giving fans an opportunity to engage further and we are continuing to build on the momentum from the 2018 ICC Women’s World T20.”



This announcement comes shortly after ICC’s decision to appoint an all-woman panel of umpires for the tournament. Claire Polosak, Jacqueline Williams, Sue Redfern, Kim Cotton, Eloise Sheridan and Lauren Agenbach will share umpiring duties while Grame Le Brooy will serve as tournament referee.



Bangladesh, led by Salma Khatun, come into the event as favourites despite the absence of Rumana Ahmed. Thailand, who have recently hit a wonderful run of form and are coming off a win in the Quadrangular series in Netherlands, will also be in contention for a place in the final two. Ireland, on the other end of the spectrum have been struggling with their form, but will be hoping that Kim Garth’s return to full fitness will give them the boost they need.



 



Schedule of matches to be live-streamed:



31 August: Bangladesh v PNG; Scotland v USA

1 September: Thailand v Namibia; Ireland v Netherlands

3 September: Ireland v Thailand; Scotland v Bangladesh

5 September: Semifinal 1 & 2

7 September: 3^rd v 4^th Place Play-Off; Final