The ICC has decided that significant alterations will be made to the format of Cricket World Cup events, which will be staged between 2024 and 2031. The revisions were finalized on Tuesday (June 1) at the ICC meeting. Decisions include the number of teams to compete in the 50-over and the T20 format World Cups, the format in which the tournaments will be contested, and the number of ICC Test Championships to be conducted during this period. The format of the World Cup events as well as other issues that were addressed during the meeting are discussed in this article.
ICC's decisions on Cricket World Cup formats, Test Championship
The governing body of world cricket, ICC has finally agreed to raise the number of teams competing in World Cup competitions. Accordingly, 14 teams will compete in the ODI World Cups between 2024 and 2031.
Similarly, the T20 World Cup will have 20 teams, which will be held every two years starting from 2024. Four world cups (2024, 2026, 2026, and 2030) will take place in this period.
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Apart from that, the ICC made a number of other significant decisions during this meeting. The ODI Champions Trophy will be re-launched, while the Test Championship will be continued.
The next two Champions League tournaments will take place in 2025 and 2029 respectively. This elite tournament will include the top eight teams in the ICC rankings. The format of the Champions Trophy will remain unchanged.
The second season of the ICC Test championship will start after the upcoming final match of the first season. The final of the first season between India and New Zealand will be held from June 18 to 22 in Southampton, England. Like the inaugural season, the duration of each season is two years. That means the finals will be held in 2025, 2027, 2029, and 2031 respectively.
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The ODI World Cups in 2027 and 2031 will include a total of 54 matches. In addition, the format has been modified. Like the 2003 edition, the World Cup will be played in a Super Six round format. There will be two groups in the first round and seven teams in each group will fight against each other. Three teams will proceed to the Super Six or the second round from there.
On the other side, the T20 World Cup will include 55 matches in total and its format has also been modified. Four groups of 20 teams will compete against each other in the first round. There will be five teams in each group. Two teams will advance to the Super Eight or the second round from there.
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Meanwhile, the fate of the upcoming T20 World Cup was also discussed at the ICC meeting. India will not be able to host the T20 World Cup in November-December window due to the outbreak of the pandemic coronavirus. So, the ICC is considering the UAE and any suitable country in the Middle East as an alternative venue. However, no final decision has yet been made in this regard.
Bottom Line
The International Cricket Council is dedicated to organizing the Cricket World Cup events and the ICC Test Championship on a regular basis. The ICC aims to provide its associate member nations more opportunities to compete in the all formats World Cup in order to increase cricket's popularity.
In addition to Test-playing nations, a significant number of associate members will compete in the world cups, which will be contested between 2024 and 2031. It is hoped that this would help to boost cricket's appeal across the world.
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