The ICC has also confirmed Italy, Germany and Denmark as the three teams to progress based on team rankings as a result of the cancellation of the events.

They will join Jersey in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Europe Qualifier scheduled to take place in Spain between October 15 and 21.

Finland was due to have hosted the Europe A and B qualifiers - its first staging of ICC events - and Belgium the Europe C qualifier.

The B qualifier was scheduled for June 30 to July 5 involving hosts Finland, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Guernsey, Hungary, Luxembourg and Sweden.

The A qualifier had been to start three days later with Bulgaria, Cyprus, France, Israel, Italy, Malta, Norway, Spain all competing until July 13.

The C qualifier was due to have taken place from July 5 to 10 involving hosts Belgium, Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Isle of Man, Portugal, Romania and Serbia.

All are pathway tournaments to next year's ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia.

The ICC said calling off the events was the "only course of action" following "extensive consultation with both hosts, participating members, the relevant Governments, public health authorities".

"The cancellation was as a result of over half of the countries still facing significant restrictions on free movement and extensive quarantine periods for returning members back into their home countries, as well as domestic restrictions in place preventing teams from selecting and preparing squads for the tournaments," the ICC added.

"Full approval from the Belgian government for the staging of the event based on the Bio-Safety Mitigation strategies proposed by the ICC was also not obtained.

“With the three events taking place at the start of the pathway which are three steps away from the World Cup, all tournaments had to be completed by the end of July 2021 to logistically enable the Europe Qualifier currently scheduled for October 2021 to take place, therefore providing no available opportunity to reschedule the events."

Two other events in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 pathway have been postponed.

The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Americas Qualifier, two steps away from Australia and due to be hosted in Canada between July 17 and 23 involving the hosts, Argentina, Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Panama and the USA, has been postponed due to Government and travel restrictions.

New dates and host country are set to be confirmed in due course.

The Asia B Qualifier, which is also two steps away from Australia 2022 and was due to be hosted in Malaysia between July 11 and 17 involving Bhutan, China, Malaysia, Myanmar, Hong Kong and Thailand, has also been postponed.

It is now scheduled to be played between November 9 and 15 in Malaysia.