The International Cricket Council has confirmed that the Americas, Asia and EAP Qualifiers to the ICC Under-19 Men’s Cricket World Cup have been cancelled because of Covid-19.

Based on guidelines approved by the ICC Development Committee and the ICC Board, the three events cannot be staged. Therefore, Canada, the United Arab Emirates and Papua New Guinea will all progress to the main tournament next year on the basis of securing the most wins in the past five under-19 qualifying events in each respective region.

The ICC said in a statement: “Member-approved ICC Covid guidelines for all pathway events, which for the under-19s specifically took into account the duty of care required for minors, clearly outline the parameters under which the events can or can’t go ahead due to Covid restrictions.”

Chris Tetley, the ICC Head of Events, added: “It is incredibly disappointing that three regional qualifiers to the ICC Under-19 Men’s Cricket World Cup have been cancelled due to Covid-19. Under the member-approved guidelines, where teams have withdrawn due to the impact caused by the pandemic, we had no other alternative but to cancel these three events.

“We have worked closely with all members to try to ensure results can be determined on the field of play; however, for these events, it was not possible. Canada, the United Arab Emirates and Papua New Guinea will all progress to the Under-19 Men’s Cricket world Cup in line with the decision taken by the ICC Board in November 2020 in relation to cancelled qualifying events.”

This will be disappointing news for Arnold Manders, the president of the Bermuda Cricket Board and coach of the under-19 side the past two years.

Bermuda were originally scheduled to face Canada, Argentina and hosts United States from August 18 to 25.

Additional global fallout from the ICC decision is that the Africa qualifier has been relocated from Nigeria to Rwanda and will now be played from September 30 to October 7.

The remaining qualifier is in Europe, to be hosted by Spain.