Women’s World Cup qualifiers to be played in Lahore from April 9 to 19

Pakistan vs Ireland and Scotland vs West Indies will kick off the qualifying competition in Lahore on April 9 ahead of the women’s ODI World Cup, which will be played in October this year in India. Bangladesh and Thailand, the other teams in the fray in the six-team event, will face off the following day.

Apart from India, Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa and Sri Lanka have already qualified for the World Cup, and the final two spots will be filled by the top-two teams from the qualifying tournament. The games will be played at the new-look Gaddafi Stadium and the Lahore City Cricket Association grounds. The two venues, as well as the Aitchison College grounds, will host the warm-up fixtures on April 5 and April 7, after the visiting teams arrive in Lahore on April 3. The last set of games will be played on April 19.

The schedule has been officially released today, on March 14, just over three weeks from the start of the tournament, though three boards – Bangladesh, Ireland and West Indies – had put out the dates in an unofficial capacity when announcing their squads.

As reported earlier on ESPNcricinfo, because of the reciprocal arrangement arrived at by the BCCI and the PCB before the Champions Trophy earlier this year, Pakistan, if they qualify for the main event, will not travel to India to play their matches. Those matches will be played at a neutral venue.

India will host the women’s ODI World Cup for the fifth time in 2025 – and the first time after 2011. It will also be the first global women’s tournament to be held in India since 2016 when the T20 World Cup ran parallel to the men’s event. The 2025 edition is set to be similar to the 2022 edition, with eight teams taking part and playing a total of 31 matches.

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