Sri Lanka chosen as neutral venue for Women’s Cricket World Cup

By Canadian Press on June 2, 2025.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Pakistan will play all its league games at a neutral venue in Sri Lanka after ICC announced venues and dates of Women’s 50-over World Cup in India on Monday.

Bengaluru, Visakhapatnam, Guwahati and Indore will host the games in India with Colombo in Sri Lanka chosen as a neutral venue. Sri Lanka was selected according to hybrid model agreed by the International Cricket Council, Board of Control for Cricket in India and the Pakistan Cricket Board.

Using this hybrid model India previously played the men’s Champions Trophy games in Dubai after its government refused to send its team to Pakistan for the tournament in February.

The political ties between the two nuclear armed South Asian neighbors have been particularly tense in recent months, with the countries stepping back from the brink of war in May.

The ICC didn’t reveal the complete details of the Sept. 30-Nov. 2 World Cup, but said the tournament begins at Bengaluru with the game involving host India.

Bengaluru will also host the second semifinal on Oct. 30. The ICC has placed Colombo as a standby venue for the first semifinal in case Pakistan qualifies, otherwise it will be played at Guwahati.

Similarly Bengaluru will host the final, but if Pakistan reaches that stage, Colombo will then be the venue.

The eight teams include host India, defending champion Australia, England, South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Pakistan and Bangladesh took the last two spots at the qualifiers played in Lahore after West Indies narrowly missed out on net run-rate to Bangladesh.

Lord’s to host women’s T20 World Cup final

The Oval will host both the semifinals of women’s T20 World Cup on June 30 and July 2 next year with Lord’s hosting the final on July 5.

The tournament, which begins on June 12 at Edgbaston, will be competed by 12 nations, two more than the last year’s edition. Manchester, Leeds, Bristol and Southampton are the other venues of the 24-day tournament.

Australia, England, India, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies and defending champion New Zealand have already qualified for the tournament. The remaining four spots will be decided after the qualifying tournament next year.

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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket

The Associated Press