Bangladesh, Ireland qualify for 2023 Women’s T20 World Cup

Bangladesh and Ireland have qualified for the 2023 Women’s T20 World Cup in South Africa after winning their respective semi-finals at the qualifying event in Abu Dhabi.

Bangladesh completed a 11-run win over Thailand and Ireland beat Zimbabwe by four runs in matches played at the Zayed Cricket Stadium on Friday to book their berths, joining Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the West Indies, who have already made it to the 10-team tournament.

Bangladesh captain Nigar Sultana Joty said: “We came here to qualify for the T20 World Cup, and we did it! We have been playing together for so many years, this is our time to show the world how good we are, how much we have improved as a side.” Ireland captain Laura Delany said: “It (qualification) is massively important for the growth of the game in Ireland. We feel fortunate that Cricket Ireland have introduced full-time contracts and I think we are starting to see the benefit of that.

“It is a lot of relief that we won. They run us till the last ball, it was a very competitive game. We are thrilled to be there. We have tried to veer off from focusing on the World Cup. We weren’t successful last time so wanted to do things differently. We are proud to have got over the line today.” Papua New Guinea (PNG), Scotland, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the United States of America (USA) were the other teams to compete in the eight-team tournament.