Women's T20 World Cup moved from Bangladesh to UAE due to security concerns

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has confirmed the change after student-led anti-government demonstrations and continuing civil unrest saw Bangladesh‘s former prime minister Sheikh Hasina resign and flee to self-exile in India.

Given the security concerns, governing body the ICC said the T20 World Cup, set to run from October 3-20, will instead take place across two venues in the UAE — Dubai and Sharjah — with the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) continuing to retain hosting rights.

ICC chief executive Geoff Allardice said: "It is a shame not to be hosting the Women's T20 World Cup in Bangladesh as we know the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) would have staged a memorable event.

"I would like to thank the team at the BCB for exploring all avenues to try and enable the event to be hosted in Bangladesh, but travel advisories from the governments of a number of the participating teams meant that wasn't feasible.

"However, they will retain hosting rights. We look forward to taking an ICC global event to Bangladesh in the near future."

England and Scotland have both qualified for the 10-nation tournament, and were drawn together in Group B, with their fixture initially set to be the final one of the opening stage on October 14.

Each side will play four group matches at the tournament, with the top two teams from each group progressing to the cut-throat semi-finals on 17 and 18 October ahead of the final on 20 October.