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The inaugural edition of the U-19 Women's T20 World Cup will take place in South Africa, International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed on Sunday. The tournament was earlier slated to take place in 2021, but due to COVID widespread, it was postponed to January 2023. ICC's Board Meeting, which was held on Sunday, finalised a new date for the tournament.
As per ICC notification, the inaugural edition of the U19 Women's T20 World Cup will be held a month prior to the 2023 ICC Women's T20 World Cup, which is also slated to take place in South Africa from February 9 onwards. According to the ICC press release, the event will feature 16 teams, with 41 matches scheduled amongst them.
Cricket South Africa's Chief Executive Pholetsi Moseki expressed gratitude to ICC on behalf of the board and said they are excited to finally welcome the U19 players for the inaugural T20 World Cup after a delay was caused the Covid-19 outbreak. In the release, CSA CEO said, "This is the best news we have got, and we acknowledge the ICC's show of faith in South Africa and our vision and desire to work collaboratively to host this illustrious event."
He also added that the host cities and venues would be excited and set to host the world stage for the promising cricketers to perform on the back of witnessing the fine displays at the recent World Cup. The South African women's team had entered the semi-finals of the recently-concluded ICC Women's World Cup 2022, where they lost to England by 137 runs. Australia eventually won the tournament by beating England in the final by 71 runs.
Interestingly, South Africa hosted the ICC Men's T20 World Cup in 2007, which India won after defeating Pakistan in the final. In 2023, South Africa is slated to host two major ICC events in the gap of just two months.