India qualify as ICC decide outcome of cancelled games

India have secured automatic qualification for next year's Women's ODI World Cup after the ICC ruled that the points for their cancelled series against Pakistan will be shared.

The two rivals were due to play last year as part of the ICC Women's Championship, which doubles as a qualification tournament for the World Cup, but the series was called off for security reasons.

With the Championship now concluded ahead of the World Cup next year, the ICC has announced that India and Pakistan have been awarded three points each for the series. Australia's proposed recent series against South Africa and Sri Lanka's matches against New Zealand, both of which were cancelled due to the outbreak of the coronavirus, have also resulted in the points being shared.

The decision means India have secured the final automatic qualification spot for the World Cup alongside Australia, England, South Africa and New Zealand, who qualify as hosts.

Had the India-Pakistan series gone ahead and Pakistan earned a maximum six points, they would have finished ahead of India and earned automatic qualification.

Instead, Pakistan will now enter a 10-team Qualifier tournament and battle it out for the remaining three spots available at the World Cup.

The Qualifier tournament, which is scheduled to be played in July but will surely be postponed due to the global health pandemic, is also slated to feature Sri Lanka, West Indies, Bangladesh, Ireland, Thailand, Zimbabwe, Papua New Guinea, United States and the Netherlands.

Australia had already secured top spot in the Women's Championship last October after another dominant showing in the three-year, round-robin competition between the world’s top eight teams.

The splitting of points from the South African tour means the Aussies finish the Championship on 37 points, ahead of England (29), South Africa (25), India (23), Pakistan (19), New Zealand (17), West Indies (13) and Sri Lanka (5).