UAE, Scotland confirmed as T20 World Cup qualifying hosts as ICC launch women's initiatives

The UAE will host the men's T20 World Cup Qualifiers in 2019, while Scotland will host the women's edition, the ICC has confirmed.

The ICC has also announced plans for an age group Women's World Cup and a Women's Cricket Committee, to be headed by former England captain Clare Connor.

Qualifying for the 2020 men's T20 World Cup will be staged from October 11 to November 3, 2019, the fourth time the event will be held in the UAE after the gulf nation played host three consecutive times in 2010, 2012 and 2013.

At 24 days, this year's qualifier is also by far the longest edition of the tournament, especially compared to the 2010 edition in which the two finalists, Ireland and Afghanistan, each played six matches in five days, including two matches on the last day for the tournament final. After criticism by then Ireland coach Phil Simmons, more rest days have been factored in with each successive tournament.

The 2019 edition will have 14 teams competing, with each team expected to play six round-robin matches over the first two weeks before the playoff rounds. It will also mark the first time that Full Member nations will be a part of the qualifier. Zimbabwe and Ireland were the lowest ranked Full Members on the ICC's T20I rankings table at the December 31, 2018 cutoff date.

They will be joined by four other teams who played in the opening round of the last T20 World Cup in India - Scotland, Netherlands, Oman and Hong Kong - as well as eight other teams who advance from regional qualifiers taking place between March and August.

The women's T20 World Cup Qualifier will be held in Scotland from August 31 to September 7 this year. It is the second straight time that a European site has hosted following Netherlands in 2018. The women's qualifier will be an eight-team event with the hosts joined by the two lowest-ranked finishers from the 2018 Women's T20 World Cup - Ireland and Bangladesh - along with Thailand, the winner of the Asia regional qualifier in February, and four other winners of regional qualifiers to be played between May and June.

The ICC did not confirm whether the women's age group World Cup would be U-19 level in line with the men's U-19 World Cup or whether it could be a lower cutoff such as U-17 for women. However, the ICC has stated its intention to form the tournament during the current commercial cycle, which would mean before 2023.

The Women's Cricket Committee, chaired by Connor, will have 11 members in all. They will be tasked with driving female participation growth, female fan growth and promoting leadership opportunities for female administrators, as well as creating competition pathways for women.