Picture Credit: ICC

Pakistan and Bangladesh will go head to head in a high-voltage encounter in the opening day fixture of the ICC Women's World Cup Qualifier 2021 set to be played across four venues in Harare. The tournament will be played from November 21 to December 5, later this year.

The tournament which features as many as 10 teams will kick off with a set of warm-up fixtures to be played on November 19 after which the South Asian cricket nations of Pakistan and Bangladesh will play the tournament opener at the Old Hararians Club.

Meanwhile, three other matches are set to be played simultaneously on the opening day, these are West Indies vs Papua New Guinea (Sunrise Cricket Club), Thailand vs Zimbabwe (Harare Sports Club) as well as Ireland vs Netherlands (Takashinga Cricket Club).

Among the other matches, the contest between the 2016 ICC Women's T20 World Cup champions West Indies as well as Sri Lanka is expected to be another thrilling game of cricket in this preliminary round of the tournament. While teams West Indies, Sri Lanka, Ireland, Papua New Guinea and the Netherlands are part of Group A, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Zimbabwe and the United States are in Group B.

Another point worth highlighting is that there is no knockout phase of this qualifying round and it will be like a preliminary league where the group stage will be followed by a Super Six stage to decide the final positions. The Super Six stage is set to commence on December 1.

Fixtures:

November 21

Old Hararians: Bangladesh vs Pakistan

Harare Sports Club: Thailand vs Zimbabwe

Sunrise Cricket Club: West Indies vs PNG

Takashinga Cricket Club: Ireland vs Netherlands

November 23

Old Hararians: West Indies vs Ireland

Harare Sports Club: Netherlands vs Sri Lanka

Sunrise Cricket Club: Pakistan vs Thailand

Takashinga Cricket Club: Bangladesh vs USA

November 25

Old Hararians: Ireland vs Sri Lanka

Harare Sports Club: Bangladesh vs Thailand

Sunrise Cricket Club: PNG vs Netherlands

Takashinga Cricket Club: Zimbabwe vs USA

November 27

Old Hararians: Sri Lanka vs West Indies

Harare Sports Club: Ireland vs PNG

Sunrise Cricket Club: Pakistan vs Zimbabwe

Takashinga Cricket Club: USA vs Thailand

November 29

Old Hararians: Bangladesh vs Zimbabwe

Harare Sports Club: Pakistan vs USA

Sunrise Cricket Club: West Indies vs Netherlands

Takashinga Cricket Club: Sri Lanka vs PNG

December 1

Old Hararians: Super 6 Match 21

Harare Sports Club: Super 6 Match 22

Sunrise Cricket Club: Super 6 Match 23

December 3

Old Hararians: Super 6 Match 24

Harare Sports Club: Super 6 Match 25

Sunrise Cricket Club: Super 6 Match 26

December 5

Old Hararians: Super 6 Match 27

Harare Sports Club: Super 6 Match 28

Sunrise Cricket Club: Super 6 Match 29