Dubai, March 14  The International Cricket Council has announced that the sixth series of the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup League 2 set to begin on April 1 in Florida, USA has been postponed due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

The six ODIs were scheduled between April 1 and 8 at Broward County Stadium in Fort Lauderdale with hosts United States, Scotland and the United Arab Emirates all competing.

ICC Head of Events, Chris Tetley said: "We have been monitoring the sixth series of the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup League 2 very closely, with recent travel restrictions being imposed globally and uncertainty for participants returning home, we have taken the decision to postpone the series."

"Working closely with USA Cricket, Cricket Scotland and the Emirates Cricket Board, all parties felt the best decision was to postpone and together we will find an alternative space in the calendar to reschedule the series.

The tournament is a two-and-half-year competition involving seven teams that are two steps away from the 2023 World Cup. At the culmination of the 21 tri-series, the top three teams in the standings will confirm their place in the World Cup Qualifier 2022.

The bottom four teams will drop into the World Cup Qualifier Play-Off 2022 -- which is a repechage event to the Global Qualifier -- and will be joined by the winner of Challenge League A and B.

The top two teams from the Play-Off will keep their hopes alive of participating in India 2023, by qualifying for the World Cup Qualifier 2022.