The International Cricket Council has confirmed that the T20 World Cup, scheduled to take place in Australia from October to November, has been moved to next year, writes ANDRE HUISAMEN.

After months of speculation and analysing the global Covid-19 pandemic, the ICC conducted another board meeting on Monday morning. It was then agreed that windows for the next three ICC men’s events will support rescheduling as late as the 2023 50-over World Cup.

As a direct result, next year’s T20 World Cup, which was due to take place in India, has also been moved on a year to 2022.

In a statement, ICC chief executive Manu Sawhney said the organisation’s number one priority remains to ensure safe and risk-free international events, while also being accommodating to travelling supporters.

‘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,’ Sawhney explained.

New dates for ICC men’s events

ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 will be held in October-November 2021, with the final on 14 November 2021 (Australia)
ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 will be held in October-November 2022, with the final on 13 November 2022 (India)
ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 will be held in October-November 2023, with the final on 26 November 2023 (India).