Dubai, March 18: The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Thursday announced that three ICC men's T20 World Cup qualifiers in Africa and Asia -- pathway tournaments to the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia -- have been postponed due to COVID-19.

The Asia A qualifier which is two steps away from the men's T20 World Cup 2022 was due to be hosted between April 3 and April 9 involving Bahrain, Kuwait, Maldives, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. It has now been postponed and will be played in Kuwait between October 23 and 29.

The decision was taken to postpone due to new restrictions being put in place by several participating countries to suspend sporting activities to limit the spread of the new COVID-19 variants, therefore, giving no opportunity for teams to sufficiently train. All England Championships 2021: Indonesian Team Pulls Out of Ongoing Championships After COVID-19 Positive Case in Flight.

The other contributing factor was the extensive quarantine requirements for the visiting teams on their return to their respective countries. The ICC men's T20 World Cup sub-regional Africa A and B qualifiers which are three steps away from Australia 2022 were due to take place in South Africa in April and have been rescheduled to October 25-31.

Qualifier A involves Ghana, Lesotho, Malawi, Rwanda, Seychelles, Swaziland, and Uganda, and Qualifier B includes Botswana, Cameroon, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, St Helena, and Tanzania.

The postponements were confirmed as a result of the process undertaken for the ICC's comprehensive contingency planning of COVID-19 after consultation with Members and with the relevant government and public health authorities.

The ICC men's T20 World Cup Africa qualifier is now confirmed to take place between November 24 and 27 in Nigeria involving Kenya, Nigeria, and the top teams from the Sub Regional Africa A and B Qualifiers respectively to allow sufficient time for the sub-regional qualifiers to be completed.

In addition, the ICC U19 Men's Cricket World Cup Asia Division 2 has been cancelled as Thailand is unable to host due to COVID-19 restrictions and there is no other suitable hosting option.

Bhutan, Hong Kong, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and Thailand were confirmed to participate in the Division 2 event. Oman and Singapore have now been promoted to the U19 Men's CWC Asia Qualifier scheduled in September in the United Arab Emirates, as a result of both teams having the best records in the previous five editions of the U19 Men's CWC qualifiers.

The ICC U19 Men's Cricket World Cup Africa Division 2 Qualifier has been postponed to August 7-13 from June 2021 due to COVID-19 travel restrictions where hosts Tanzania, Botswana, Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda and Sierra Leone will all compete for two ICC U19 Men's Cricket World Cup Africa Qualifier spots.

The dates for the U19 Men's CWC Africa Qualifier have been confirmed as September 25 to October 1 and will be hosted by Nigeria with Namibia, Nigeria, Uganda also competing for one spot in the West Indies in early 2022.

The ICC Women's T20 World Cup Africa Qualifier which is a qualifying tournament to the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2023 has been rescheduled from October to September 3-11 to ease regional calendar congestion involving hosts Botswana, Cameroon, Namibia, Nigeria, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

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