THE ICC has confirmed that a review into the conduct of T20 World Cup 2024 will be carried out after the global body set up a panel with three of its board directors – Roger Twose, Lawson Naidoo and Imran Khawaja – to oversee the review and submit findings later in the year.
ESPNcricinfo had reported earlier that there was scrutiny on the extent of expenditure on the US leg of the tournament and the organisation of the Caribbean leg. The decision to appoint a review panel was taken at the ICC annual conference in Colombo from July 19 to 22, which was attended by all 108 members. The three-man panel will engage an independent consultancy to carry out the review, before reporting back to the board.
The ICC also approved the expansion of the Women’s T20 World Cup to 16 teams in 2030. Eight teams had taken part in the inaugural tournament in 2009 and that number rose to 10 in 2016. Ten teams will also take part in the 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in October. The 2026 edition will have 12 participating teams, for which the cut-off date for qualification is October 31, 2024, before the expansion to 16 in 2030.
For the next Men’s T20 World Cup in 2026, the ICC said the allocation of the eight regional qualifying spots would be as follows: two teams each from Africa and Europe, one from the Americas, and three from Asia and East Asia Pacific (EAP) combined. Previously, Asia had two spots and EAP one.
The ICC also announced that USA Cricket and Cricket Chile have been “formally put on notice” because both organisations are not compliant with ICC membership criteria. They have 12 months to make rectifications.
“Neither member is considered to have in place a fit-for-purpose, detailed governance and administrative structure and systems,” the ICC said in a release. “The ICC Americas office will work with Cricket Chile to support them in remedying their non-compliance. The board agreed that a normalisation committee comprising of [sic] board and management representatives will be set up to oversee and monitor USA Cricket’s compliance roadmap and the ICC board will reserve its right to suspend or expel the member for continued non-compliance.” (ESPNcricinfo)
