Scotland international Abtaha Maqsood is officially out of the Women’s T20 World Cup due to a metacarpal fracture. The leg-spinner sustained the injury just days before Scotland’s opening match, dealing a severe blow to a bowling attack heavily reliant on the nation’s all-time leading T20 wicket-taker.
Maqsood broke her hand during Scotland’s rain-affected warm-up victory over Pakistan on June 9. With Scotland scheduled to open their Group 2 campaign against Ireland on June 13 at Manchester’s Old Trafford Cricket Ground, team management scrambled to finalize a replacement. The injury occurred during a busy stretch of preparation matches across the region, matching the intensity seen when England edged India by five runs in exhibition play.
Right-arm medium pacer Hannah Rainey takes Maqsood’s spot on the 15-player roster, according to the ICC. Rainey, who plays her domestic cricket for Yorkshire, holds 25 wickets across 41 international appearances since debuting in 2018. This tournament marks her first appearance on the premier global stage.
Tournament regulations required a formal review before Rainey could join the squad. The Event Technical Committee, chaired by ICC General Manager Wasim Khan alongside tournament director Beth Barrett-Wild, formally ratified the swap on Thursday.
Scotland now heads into Friday’s opener in Manchester needing to reconfigure their spin-heavy approach against an aggressive Irish batting order.