ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2023: Turkey pull out of European qualifiers

In what can be called a significant development, Turkey have pulled out from the European qualifying competition for the women’s T20 World Cup. The International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed that travel restrictions and not having the approval of the Turkish sports ministry due to the COVID-19 pandemic meant Turkey won’t be fighting to feature in the global event.

Notably, the qualifier tournament gets underway on August 26 (Thursday) in Spain’s La Manga. With Turkey going out of the picture, the event will now be a five-team affair, featuring France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, and Scotland. It has to be noted as ICC was in touch with Turkey team lately to make the required arrangements. However, their efforts went in vain as Turkey won’t participate in the crucial competition.

Turkey pulling out is a great regret: ICC official

“It is with great regret that Turkey will not be taking part in the Europe qualifier at La Manga. We have been in communication with the [Turkish] federation over the past month to provide any assistance to secure their arrival into Spain in time for the event and would like to thank the federation for their efforts in trying to secure the documentation,”Andy Wright, the ICC’s regional development manager for Europe, said in a statement. ”

“We have worked closely with the remaining participating teams and the event will now be played as a five-team tournament. We are looking forward to seeing play getting underway tomorrow in what is still set to be a very competitive event,” she added.

Meanwhile, the eighth edition of the women’s T20 World Cup will take place in South Africa in 2023. Initially, the event was scheduled to conduct in 2023 but the unfortunate global pandemic forced the tournament to be postponed.

With South Africa being the hosts, they directly qualify for the gala event. They’ll be joined by seven other top teams. The remaining two sides will be determined through qualifying events all across the world. Australia are the defending champions of the tournament, having lifted the prestigious trophy at home in 2020.

While the Aussies would be determined to retain their title, teams like India, South Africa and England will also fancy their chances of getting the glory.