ICC Declares The Expansion Of The Global Events For The Near Future

The International Cricket Council (ICC)’s board meeting confirmed the schedule of the ICC events from 2024-2031. With that, the ICC has also revealed that 50-over and T20 World Cups are set to undergo expansion, while the ICC Champions Trophy will make a comeback. The Champions Trophy was last played in 2017, which Pakistan won by beating India in the final.

The ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup would be a 14-team. 54-match event in 2027 and 2031, while the men’s T20 competition will have 20 sides and 54 fixtures in 2024, 2026, 2028, and 2030. Furthermore, an eight-team Champions Trophy will take place in 2025 and 2029. The finals of the ICC World Test Championship will occur in 2025, 2027, 2029, and 2031. The ICC has also confirmed the Women’s schedule with the extension of both the Cricket World Cup and T20 World Cup, forming part of the body’s long-term commitment to expanding the women’s game.

The Men’s edition’s format will have two groups of seven, with the top three in each group advancing to the super six stage, followed by the semi-finals and finals. The same format will come into play in the tournament two years later. Furthermore, the T20 competition would have four groups of five, with the top two from each group progressing to a Super Eights stage, followed by the knockout stages of semi-finals and a final. Finally, the Champions Trophy will follow previous events with two groups of four, semi-finals and final.

ICC Chief Executive addresses the significant step towards the tournaments’ growth:

ICC’s acting Chief Executive Geoff Allardice conceded that their decision to announce the events till 2031 is a significant step forward for the sport and will form the basis and planning for the future too. Geoff Allardice hopes that their approach would help penetrate the game and bring about new fans. Furthermore, it allows them to host cricketing tournaments in emerging countries as well.

“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. The revised approach to selecting 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. 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,” Allardice remarked as quoted in the official website.

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