KARACHI, Jan 8: The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Tuesday announced the women’s World Cup qualifying rounds have been shifted from Pakistan to South Africa on the guidance of independent security reports.

“The eight-team qualifying rounds, scheduled to be staged in Lahore, Pakistan from Feb 18 to 24, will now take place in South Africa instead,” the ICC said in a statement.

“The decision was arrived at following independent security reports and extensive discussions by ICC management and the ICC Women’s Committee,” said the ICC.

The tournament was to originally take place in Lahore last November but was postponed for security reasons until after the proposed election date of Jan 8, the ICC said.

“With the rescheduling of the elections in Pakistan until Feb 18, the decision was made to move the event to South Africa,” the statement added.

The qualifiers involve eight teams — Bermuda, Ireland, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Scotland, South Africa, and Zimbabwe — with the top two sides going forward to the ICC Women’s World Cup in Australia in 2009.

“It is unfortunate that the timing of the event ended up clashing with the elections and forcing us to change the venue,” said ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed.

“We remain committed to international cricket being played in Pakistan but, sadly, events beyond the control of the ICC and the PCB have conspired against us on this occasion.”

The PCB said changing the venue would not affect the country’s chances of hosting international cricketing events this year.

“The reason for shifting the women’s events was purely because the dates were coinciding with the national elections and it will not affect the future series in Pakistan,” PCB official Ahsan Hameed Malik said. “The decision to shift the event was made with the PCB’s input and we thank the ICC on having a constant intention of hosting the event in Pakistan before this unavoidable situation came.”—AFP