The opening day of the Women's ODI World Cup Qualifier 2021 in Harare will witness eight of the 10 teams in action, with Pakistan taking on Bangladesh, the West Indies meeting Papua New Guinea, Thailand facing Zimbabwe and Ireland up against the Netherlands. The tournament will be played between November 21 and December 5, with three spots up for grabs for the ODI World Cup scheduled for next March-April in New Zealand.
There is no knockout stage in the competition, with the preliminary league, consisting of 10 teams in five each of two groups, followed by a Super Six stage to decide the final positions at the end of 29 matches. Group A consists of the West Indies, Sri Lanka, Ireland, Papua New Guinea and the Netherlands while Group B will have teams from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Zimbabwe and the USA. The Super Six stage begins on December 1.
Along with the three qualifiers, the next two teams from the competition will also secure their places in the following ICC Women's Championship, with the tournament expanding from eight teams to ten in the next cycle. The other five spots will be taken by the automatic qualifiers of the ODI World Cup - Australia, England, India, South Africa and New Zealand - on the back of their top-five finish in the previous ICC Women's Championship.
The tournament commences with a set of warm-up matches on November 19. Overall, four venues will be used for the group stage, with four matches held every day.
The qualifiers were originally meant to be hosted by Sri Lanka in July 2020, but the Covid-19 pandemic forced the postponement of the tournament, as well as the main event in New Zealand.
Group A: West Indies, Sri Lanka, Ireland, Papua New Guinea, Netherlands
Group B: Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Zimbabwe, USA