T20 World Cup postponed due to coronavirus

ICC has will stage back-to-back T20 World Cup in 2021 and 2022 but is yet to confirm who will host which tournament between Australia and India, while the 2023 Cricket World Cup has been pushed back by eight months

The International Cricket Council has postponed this year’s Men’s T20 World Cup until next year due to the coronavirus crisis.

The tournament was originally scheduled to get under way in Australia this October, but will now commence in October 2021 with the final scheduled for 14 November.

However, after a meeting between the IBC Board (the commercial subsidiary of the ICC) on Monday, it was not confirmed whether next year’s rearranged event will take place in Australia or in India, given that the Asian country was due to stage the tournament in 2021 under the original calendar and has been reluctant to budge on the previously agreed dates..

As a result, the ICC only announced the dates for the newly-arranged 2022 T20 World Cup, which will be staged over the same two months as next year’s event, but the hosts of the two T20 competitions will be clarified at a later date.

It was also confirmed that the 2023 Cricket World Cup in India will be pushed back to October and November, in order to allow the full qualification process to be completed.

ICC chief executive Manu Sawhney said: “We have undertaken a comprehensive and complex contingency planning exercise and through this process, our number one priority has been to protect the health and safety of everyone involved in the sport.

“The decision to postpone the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup was taken after careful consideration of all of the options available to us and gives us the best possible opportunity of delivering two safe and successful T20 World Cups for fans around the world.”

The ICC remains hopeful of staging the Women’s 2021 Cricket World Cup in New Zealand next February, with preparations set to go ahead as planned for the tournament, although the ICC will “continue to evaluate the situation” should there be any further issues relating to Covid-19 that could impact both the staging of the competition and the travel of different teams to New Zealand.

But in order to try and fit in the large number of postponed matches that are needed for the Men’s 2023 Cricket World Cup, the ICC felt it best to announce an eight-month delay from the original February start, meaning England will begin their World Cup defence in October 2023.

“Our members now have the clarity they need around event windows to enable them to reschedule lost bilateral and domestic cricket. Moving the Men’s Cricket World Cup to a later window is a critical element of this and gives us a better chance of maintaining the integrity of the qualification process. This additional time will be used to reschedule games that might be lost because of the pandemic ensuring qualification can be decided on the field of play.

“Throughout this process we have worked closely with our key stakeholders including governments, members, broadcasters, partners and medical experts to enable us to reach a collective decision for the good of the game and our fans. I would like to thank everyone involved for their commitment to a safe return to cricket.”