The International Cricket Council (ICC) earlier on Monday (20th July 2020) confirmed the postponement of ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia, which was to be held later this year, the decision was taken due to the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic.
The announcement was made official in the meeting conducted earlier on Monday by the IBC Board, IBC is the commercial subsidiary of the ICC. The meeting also discussed on the fate of the upcoming three ICC Men’s tournaments, namely - ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021, ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022 and ICC Men’s World Cup 2023.
The IBC Board unanimously agreed on the dates for the three upcoming major Men’s events. The Windows for the events are scheduled to be - ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 to be held October - November 2021 with the final to take place on 14 November 2021, ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 to be held October - November 2022 with final on 13 November 2022 and ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 is scheduled to be played in India from October- November 2023 with finals to be played on 26 November 2023.
The IBC Board further agreed on the decision to monitor the situation and analyse all the necessary information in order to ensure the game is able to be played safe and the scheduled events to take place successfully and furthermore added that they will be monitoring the situation in Newzealand as well so as to host the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup 2021 in February next year.
“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"
“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,” stated ICC Chief Executive Manu Sawhney.
The official postponement of the Men’s T20 World Cup 2020 means that the window for the Indian Premier League is now open, which is now scheduled to take place in UAE which is scheduled to take place from September 26 to November 7 behind closed doors.
Cover Credits: Essentially Sports
