ICC pushes forward T20 Men’s World Cup to next year

The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday announced the postponement of the 2020 ICC World T20 till October 2021 due to the prevalent situation caused by coronavirus.

The decision was made during a meeting of the IBC Board (the commercial subsidiary of the ICC) today.

Following the meeting, the world cricket's governing body said "windows for the next three ICC men’s events were also agreed to bring clarity to the calendar and give the sport the best possible opportunity over the next three years to recover from the disruption caused by COVID-19."

The ICC said that following the rescheduling of its calendar, next year's World T20 will be followed by another in 2022, whereas the 50-over World Cup will still be played in calendar tear 2023 but six months later than originally planned.

"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," ICC CEO Manu Sawhney said.

“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.”

Originally scheduled to kick off in Australia on October 18 of this year, the World T20 would have seen the West Indies put their title on the line.

The last edition of the tournament was played in 2016 when the Windies had escaped with the most thrilling of wins in the final courtesy Carlos Brathwaite's four sixes off as many balls in the final over against all odds.