The International Cricket Council has confirmed the expansion of teams and matches for the World Cups and other global events.
The ICC Board today confirmed the schedule of ICC events from 2024- 2031. The ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup and ICC Men’s T20 World Cup will be expanded. The Men’s Champions Trophy will be re-introduced.
The Men’s Cricket World Cup will feature 14 teams and 54 matches in 2027 and 2031. The Men’s T20 World Cup will be expanded to 20 team and 55 matches for the 2024, 2026, 2028 and 2030 events.
“Having the ICC event schedule confirmed through to 2031 is a significant step forward for cricket and will form the basis of our growth strategy for the next decade,” said ICC Acting Chief Executive Geoff Allardice.
An eight-team Champions Trophy will be held in 2025 and 2029. ICC World Test Championship Finals have been slated for 2025, 2027, 2029 and 2031, stated an ICC Press release.
The ICC Women’s event schedule has already been confirmed with the expansion of both the Cricket World Cup and T20 World Cup forming part of the ICC’s long-term commitment to growing the women’s game.
The ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup format will have two groups of seven teams. The top three teams in each group will progress to the Super Six stage. This will mark a return to the format that was used in the Men’s Cricket World Cup 2003.
The Men’s T20 World Cup will consist of four groups of five teams. The top two from each group would go through to the Super Eights stage, which will be followed by the knockout stages of semi-finals and a final.
The Champions Trophy will continue to follow its earlier format, featuring two groups of four teams.
ICC EVENTS SCHEDULE
2024: Men’s T20 WC (20 teams/55 matches); Women’s T20 WC (10T.23M); U-19 Men’s CWC.
2025: Champions Trophy (8 T/15 M); World Test Championship Final (2T/1M); Women’s Cricket World Cup (8 T/31 M); U-19 Women’s T20 WC.
2026: Men’s T20 World Cup (20 T/55 M); Women’s T20 World Cup (12 T/33 M); U-19 Men’s CWC.
2027: Men’s World Cup (14 T/54 M); World Test Championship Final (2T/1M); Women’s T20 Champions Trophy (6 T/16 M); U-19 Women’s T20WC.
2028: Men’s T20 World Cup (20 T/55 M); Women’s T20 World Cup (12/33); U-19 Men’s CWC.
2029: Men’s Champions Trophy (8 T/15 T); World Test Championship Final (2 T/1 M); Women’s Cricket World Cup (10 T/48 M); U-19 Women’s T20WC.
2030: Men’s T20 World Cup (20 T/55 M) T20 World Cup (12 T/33 M); U-19 Men’s CWC.
2031: Men’s Cricket World Cup (14 T/54 M); World Test Championship Final (2 M/1 T); and Women’s T20 Champions Trophy (6 T/16 M); U-19 Women’s T20WC.
The ICC Board has also approved the process for determining the hosts for the Men’s, Women’s and U19 global events. The hosts for the Men’s events will be decided in September. The selection process will start later this month.
“The revised approach to select hosts for our events will give us much more flexibility to grow the game and engage new fans. There is a smaller pool of countries with the infrastructure needed to host our senior Men’s events which narrows the selection process,” added Allardice.
“Additionally, many of our Members expressed interest in hosting Women’s and U19 events which gives us a great opportunity to stage events in established and emerging cricket nations.”
The process to select host nation for Women’s and U19 global events will commence in November.
ICC T20 WORLD CUP 2021
The Board has urged the ICC management to plan for staging the Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 in the UAE, if need be. Another venue in West Asia is likely included in the conventional international cricket stadiums in the Emirates – Sharjah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The Board has, meanwhile, confirmed that the Board of Control for Cricket in India shall hold the status of the host nation even if the World Cup is shifted to the UAE.
