The 2023 ICC Under-19 Women's T20 World Cup was the first edition of the Under-19 Women's T20 World Cup, hosted by South Africa in 2023. The tournament was moved from its original slot at the end of 2021 to January 2023 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sixteen teams competed in the tournament, initially divided into four groups.
India, England, Australia and New Zealand progressed to the semi-finals. In the semi-finals, India beat New Zealand by 8 wickets and England beat Australia by 3 runs. The final took place on 29 January 2023 at Senwes Park, Potchefstroom, and saw India beat England by 7 wickets to become the inaugural champions of the ICC Under-19 Women's T20 World Cup.
Background Originally, the tournament was scheduled to take place in January 2021, before being postponed multiple times due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In November 2020, the ICC looked at the possibility of deferring the tournament from its scheduled slot of January 2021 to later in the year. In January 2021, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) confirmed that they would host the tournament in December 2021, however the tournament was postponed for a second time, and was moved to January 2023. In January 2022, Geoff Allardice, the CEO of the ICC said that the tournament was "very much on the cards", and that the ICC were starting the process for hosts.
Qualification
In June 2022, the ICC confirmed the qualification process for the tournament. Hosts South Africa, along with Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Zimbabwe all qualified automatically for the tournament. The United States also qualified automatically, as they were the only eligible team to compete from the Americas regional group. The four remaining places were to be filled by winners of regional qualification groups. The United Arab Emirates were the first team to qualify from the regional groups, after they won the Asia Qualifier. Indonesia won their three-match series against Papua New Guinea to win the East Asia-Pacific group to qualify. It was the first time that Indonesia had qualified for an ICC World Cup tournament at any level. Rwanda won the African Qualifiers to qualify for the World Cup, the first time that Rwanda had qualified for an ICC World Cup tournament at any level. This was also the first ICC Women's World Cup for Scotland, United Arab Emirates, United States, and Zimbabwe at any level.
Means of qualificationBerthsQualifiedHost nation1Automatic qualification11Regional qualification4Total16
Competition format The 16 teams were divided into four groups of four, and each played once against every other side in their group. The top three teams in each group progressed to the Super Six League stage, where qualifying teams from Group A played against two of the qualifying teams from Group D, and qualifying teams from Group B played against two of the qualifying teams from Group C. Points from matches against teams that also qualified from the first group stage were carried forward into the Super Six League stage. The top two sides from each of the Super Six Leagues progressed to the semi-finals, with the final taking place on 29 January 2023.
Squads
Each team could select a squad of fifteen players for the tournament, with additional non-travelling reserves also able to be named. England were the first side to name their squad, doing so on 18 October 2022.
Match officials On 5 January 2023, ICC announced the names of fifteen match officials for the tournament, of whom nine were women – making it the highest number of female match officials to be appointed for any ICC event.
Match Referees Vanessa Bowen Owen Chirombe Niamur Rashid
Umpires
Maria Abbott Sarah Bartlett Sarah Dambanevana Jasmine Naeem Kerrin Klaaste Wayne Knights Candace la Borde Lisa McCabe Ahmed Shah Pakteen Sharfuddoula Virender Sharma Dedunu Silva
Venues
+PotchefstroomPotchefstroomBenoniAbsa Puk OvalSenwes ParkWillowmoore ParkCapacity: 10,000Capacity: 18,000Capacity: 20,000
Warm-up matches The following warm-up matches were played before the tournament's official start:
Group stage Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
13th to 16th Place play-offs
Super 6 Group 1
Group 2
Knockout stage
Semi-finals
Final
Final standings Pos.Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th
Statistics Highest score by a team: India – 219/3 (20 overs) v United Arab Emirates (16 January). Top score by an individual: Grace Scrivens (England) – 93 (56) v Ireland (21 January). Best bowling figures by an individual: Ellie Anderson (England) – 5/12 (4 overs) v West Indies (25 January).
Most runs Player Team Matches Innings Runs Average 100s 50sShweta SehrawatIndia7729799.0092*03Grace ScrivensEngland7729341.859303Shafali VermaIndia7717224.577801Eyman FatimaPakistan5515752.3365*02Georgia PlimmerNew Zealand6515551.665301 Source: ESPNcricinfo
Most wickets Player Team Overs Wickets Average BBI 5wMaggie ClarkAustralia17.5126.253/150Parshavi ChopraIndia21.0117.004/50Hannah BakerEngland21.5107.303/90Anosha NasirPakistan20.01011.003/320Grace ScrivensEngland20.497.114/20 Source: ESPNcricinfo
Team of the tournament On 30 January 2023, the ICC announced the Team of the Tournament. Grace Scrivens was also named Player of the Tournament.
Shweta Sehrawat Grace Scrivens (c) Shafali Verma Georgia Plimmer Dewmi Vihanga Shorna Akter Karabo Meso (wk) Parshavi Chopra Hannah Baker Ellie Anderson Maggie Clark Anosha Nasir (12th woman)
References
External links Tournament home at ESPN Cricinfo