Photo Credit: USA Cricket
- ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup and ICC Men’s T20 World Cup to be expanded
- USA Cricket hails ICC’s support for growing the sport through increased competition opportunities for more countries
- USA Cricket has formally expressed interest in staging various major events in the ICC 2023-2031 cycle in partnership with Cricket West Indies
USA Cricket has hailed the news yesterday from the International Cricket Council (ICC) that there will be an expanded set of events that involve an increased number of Associate Members within the next ICC Rights Cycle from 2023 – 2031. The announcement about the expansion in the number of participating teams at future editions of the Men’s Cricket World Cup and the Men’s T20 World Cup, as well as the scheduling of a Men’s T20 World Cup every two years, appears to reflect the ICC’s desire to grow the game in the coming decade outside of the non-traditional markets and aligns with USA Cricket’s long-term vision and strategic objectives.
This decision follows previous ICC announcements about the expansion in the number of Women’s and Youth events over the 8-year period as well.
Iain Higgins, Chief Executive of USA Cricket, expressed strong support for the ICC’s announcement, “Everybody within USA Cricket and across the US cricket community is delighted that the ICC has chosen to expand the number of participating teams in both the Men’s Cricket World Cup and Men’s T20 World Cup, following similar decisions in respect of the women’s game. These decisions help to provide additional opportunities for the best Associate Members to compete on a global stage on a more regular basis, and they therefore provide extra incentive to the USA’s national teams and players as we strive to develop an integrated domestic structure and environment that helps to drive high performance outcomes. The standard and quality of Associate Member cricket has never been stronger and we look forward to being able to demonstrate that on the global stage through these new opportunities.”
“In addition, the decision to schedule a Men’s T20 World Cup every other year, which follows a similar decision in respect of the Women’s T20 World Cup, also provides USA Cricket with additional opportunities to continue to seek the right to host part of these major events in line with the strategic objectives set out in our Foundational Plan. To that end, USA Cricket has already formally expressed to the ICC its interest in staging various major events in partnership with Cricket West Indies, and we look forward to working with CWI and the ICC over the next few months with a view to putting forward the best possible case to secure for the USA the hosting rights to some of the most exciting global cricket competitions, which would be extremely exciting and help us to achieve our long-term vision of making cricket a mainstream sport in the USA.”
Higgins concluded, “Our continued strategic focus on Women, Girls and Youth has also received a huge boost – not just the expansion of the number of teams in the Women’s Cricket World Cup and Women’s T20 World Cup, but also the introduction of the Women’s U19 T20 World Cup every two years. It is so pleasing to see these decisions align with our own strategic initiatives, including the establishment of a women’s pathway and the recent investment into the Men’s and Women’s U19 Training Groups, U19 National Coaches, U19 National Championships and broader support structures.”
All of these major event decisions demonstrate the ICC’s desire to grow the game outside of the traditional cricketing countries, and, when placed alongside the potential for cricket’s inclusion in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games, underline that there really are exciting times and opportunities ahead for players and fans of the sport here in the USA.”
To see the ICC Media Release in full, please click here.
Name of Author: USA Cricket
USA Cricket (USAC) is the governing body for cricket in the United States, overseeing the national men’s, women’s, and youth teams. It also manages Major League Cricket, the premier domestic Twenty20 competition in the U.S.
