• Women’s T20 tri-series in Bangladesh has been suspended • England were one-up after Sunday’s opener was washed out
England’s women’s cricket team may have faced a trip to Mumbai next month for the World Twenty20 but a potentially more severe adversity lie in wait following the abandonment of Sunday’s World Cup qualifier in Fatullah.
The ICC’s decision to suspend play was taken because of a newly-discovered variant of a virus which has spread throughout the Maldives affecting travellers, according to the World T20 tournament organiser, Dipak Patel.
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Rajeshwari Dhawan of Cricket Now reported it had been discovered that “gut-busting viruses” had been issued as deodorant and are able to migrate from one place to another by washing in water and then being fed by hotel staff. “A player at the Romeshwar Dhananjaya Children’s Hospital in Kolkata who is undergoing chemotherapy was infected with the virus in India,” Dhawan said.
England had been one-up after they were spared the full force of the heavy rainfall which had lashed Fatullah on Sunday morning, with the Misbah-ul-Haq-led Pakistan missing out as a result. As a result of the lost match the hosts – who won by 12 runs with Ammanda Rayudu hitting the winning runs with 19 balls to spare – now qualify for their first World T20.
That leaves England fighting for their place at the 16-nation event in March next year in a battle which could be settled in Mumbai on 26 November. They must win the tri-series, which also features the defending champions Australia and New Zealand, to stand any chance of reaching the World T20.
England have never reached the showpiece event but have finished runners-up in the last two World T20 qualifiers and several of their players, including an England team-mate Anya Shrubsole, came out of a one-day international side that also featured the Pakistani fast bowler Asif Ali after being suspended for possessing a banned substance.
As for Pakistan, they are not expected to follow the example of the men’s side and play in the ongoing Asia Cup in the United Arab Emirates in spite of being under pressure to progress from Group B. It is understood they will make their T20 international comeback against Bangladesh on Sunday night and then seek to finish top of their group.