ICC announces Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier 2019 fixtures

Dubai [UAE], Aug 8 (ANI): International Cricket Council (ICC) on Thursday announced the fixtures for the upcoming Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier 2019.
Defending champions Bangladesh will play against Papua New Guinea while last years runners-up Ireland will take on Namibia in the opening game of the T20 World Cup Qualifier 2019.
Namibia were named a replacement for Zimbabwe, having finished second in the Africa regional qualifiers earlier this year, while the Netherlands (Europe), Papua New Guinea (East Asia-Pacific), Thailand (Asia) and the USA (Americas) made it after winning their respective qualifying events. Scotland qualified as hosts.
The league-cum-knockout tournament, which will decide the two qualifiers for the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2020 in Australia, will also see Scotland take on the USA and Thailand fight it out with the Netherlands, as all eight teams play on an opening day at the two venues - the Forfarshire Cricket Club in Dundee and the Arbroath Cricket Club.
The eight teams are divided into two groups to decide the semifinalists, with the winners of the two semifinals ensuring a place at the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2020 to be held in the Australian cities of Canberra, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney from February 21 to March 8 next year.
Bangladesh, Thailand, Scotland, and the USA form Group A, while Group B consists of Ireland, Papua New Guinea, Namibia, and the Netherlands.
The teams also get to play a warm-up match each against, ahead of the tournament started on 29 August.
Both semifinals will be played on September 5 and the final will be played at the Forfarshire Cricket Club on September 7.
The fixtures for the Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier 2019 are as follows:
August 31: Bangladesh v PNG (Forfarshire Cricket Club) Thailand v Netherlands (Arbroath Sports Club) Scotland v USA (Forfarshire Cricket Club) Namibia v Ireland (Arbroath Sports Club)
September 1: Thailand v Namibia (Forfarshire Cricket Club) Scotland v PNG (Arbroath Sports Club) Ireland v Netherlands (Forfarshire Cricket Club) USA v Bangladesh (Arbroath Sports Club)
September 3: Ireland v Thailand (Forfarshire Cricket Club) Netherlands v Namibia (Arbroath Sports Club) Scotland v Bangladesh (Forfarshire Cricket Club) PNG v USA (Arbroath Sports Club)
September 5: A1 v B2 (Forfarshire Cricket Club) B3 v A4 (Arbroath Sports Club) B1 v A2 (Forfarshire Cricket Club) A3 v B4 (Arbroath Sports Club)
September 7: 3rd v 4th Place Play-Off (Forfarshire Cricket Club) 7th v 8th Place Play-Off (Arbroath Sports Club) Final (Forfarshire Cricket Club) 5th v 6th Place Play-Off (Arbroath Sports Club)
T20 World Cup Qualifier 2019 will be played in Scotland from August 31 to September 7. (ANI)