The ICC has announced that the 2020 Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia has been postponed to 2021 due to the disruption caused by the COVID-19 crisis.
Cricket’s bi-annual international competition will now be scheduled between October – November 2021 with the final taking place on November 14, 2021. As a result of the rescheduling the Men’s T20 World Cup will occur twice in two years with the 2022 edition also being rescheduled to October. The decision to move the events was announced following a meeting with ICC’s commercial subsidiary, the IBC Board.
ICC Chief Executive Manu Sawhney commented: “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 global health pandemic has also impacted the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in 2023 with the competition moving to October of the same year to allow for a longer qualification period.
According to the ICC, the new dates were confirmed as soon as possible in order to ‘bring clarity to the calendar’ whilst also helping the sport recover from the global health pandemic.
Furthermore, the ICC has confirmed that no changes have been made to the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2021 in New Zealand, with the event scheduled to go ahead as planned in February. However, the organisation is monitoring the situation in case the vent does need to be rescheduled.
Sawhney continued: “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.”
