ICC announce all-female officials for Women's T20 World Cup: Details
In a historic first, all match officials at the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2023 will be females. The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced the same on Friday (January 27). The eighth edition of the prestigious competition will have 13 female officials. This surpasses the previous tally attained in the ongoing ICC U19 Women's T20 World Cup. Here are further details.
Historic move by ICC
As mentioned, this will be the first instance of all officials at an ICC event being women. Meanwhile, the ongoing U-19 event has 15 officials, out of which nine are women. Hence, the T20 WC would witness the first instance of 10 or more women officials featuring in an ICC event. The competition will be played from February 10 to 26 in South Africa.
Who are the 13 officials?
Anna Harris and Sue Redfern are the officials from England. From India, N Janani, Vrinda Rathi, and GS Lakshmi will officiate the matches. Claire Polosak and Eloise Sheridan are Australian umpires. Michell Pereira and Nimali Perera are the two Sri Lankans on the list. Shandre Fritz and Lauren Agenbag are the home umpires. New Zealand's Kim Cotton and Jamaica's Jacqueline Williams complete the list.
Format of the tournament
The 10 participating teams have been equally divided into two groups. Each team will play others in their group once. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the semi-finals. The final will be held on February 26. However, the organizers have kept a reserve day on February 27, as was the case in the 2021 ICC World Test Championship final.
Here are the two groups
A look at the two groups for the 2023 ICC Women's T20 World Cup: Group 1: Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. Group 2: England, India, West Indies, Pakistan, and Ireland.
Winners of the previous editions
Defending champions Australia have clinched five of the seven editions of the T20 World Cup so far. England and West Indies tasted the glory once apiece. The last edition, 2020, saw India qualifying for the final for the first time. However, the Aussies handed them an 85-run defeat in the summit clash at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
